Fight at school. Who should pay for broken glasses?
My son is in grade 8. For the past two weeks he has been relentlessly bullied by a classmate over his height. Today, my son got sick of ignoring it (his words), and ended up tripping and nailing the kid to the ground (didn’t hit him). The kid elbowed him the face and in process broke his glasses.
Both kids almost got suspended but were offered the opportunity to talk and take responsibility and they took it. Principal told me they both seemed sincere and that they agreed to stay away from each other, even though the bully sits right behind my son in class.
Later today unbeknownst to me my son sent the kid a message saying “hey it’s going to cost $650 to fix the glasses” (which it will) and the kid wrote back “hahahaha”. I told my son to block him and stop engaging with him as he’s clearly trying to provoke a reaction.
The principal advised that we let our son wear the broken glasses, currently held up by scotch tape, as a natural consequence because “he put himself in that position”. While he was wrong to get physical, I don’t think we should be entirely on the hook for the glasses given this all happened because of bullying. So, who should bear responsibility for the broken glasses in this case?
Edit: glasses have special myopia control lenses which is why they’re so expensive.