ALLENSTOWN — A local man says school officials have reopened an investigation into alleged bullying of his 12-year-old daughter in response to his repeated complaints.

In the meantime, Chris Sounia said he will not allow his daughter, Briona Reed-Sounia, to attend Armand R. Dupont School until he is certain she will be safe there. Instead, starting Monday, Briona will begin a trial period at the Bridges Program, an alternative middle school in Pembroke, he said.

Sounia said he has not sent Briona to school for nearly a month. This is his family’s first year in Allenstown.

Neither Helene Bickford, one of SAU 53’s two interim superintendents, nor Lynn Allen, the school principal, would speak with a reporter about a specific complaint. However, they said all allegations of bullying are taken seriously and investigated thoroughly, per district policy.

Last week, Sounia said he received a letter dated Nov. 21 from Allen saying there would be no further investigation because of a lack of evidence or information that Briona was facing a “hostile educational environment.”

Sounia said Bickford then told him in a meeting on Friday, the sixth meeting he said he has had this year with school officials, that the school would in fact conduct a bullying investigation.

Sounia said the bullying has occurred inside and outside of school. He said sometimes it has been violent, with his daughter getting pushed against lockers. Sometimes it has been verbal, and sometimes it has included nasty rumors about Briona being spread throughout the school, he said.

“Briona told teachers she was slammed into a locker, and kids were slamming her hands into a locker,” Sounia said.

In the minutes from an Oct. 26 meeting at the school supplied by Sounia, he tells officials that two girls punched Briona while off school grounds and have spread rumors about her. In the minutes, Allen asks Briona whether she had been pushed into lockers the day before, and Briona replies that it had not happened during that week. Sounia then states that Briona had complained about it frequently.

According to the minutes, also attending the meeting were Sarah Petersons, Briona’s case manager from special education, Narine Hazard from guidance and Patrolman Michael Debisz of the Allenstown Police Department.

Sounia said Briona has severe learning disabilities and he believes that is one of the reasons bullies have targeted her.

In an interview, Allen said she could not discuss an individual student’s situation but that whenever the school receives a bullying complaint, it is acted on in accordance with the district’s bullying policy.

The policy states that the principal or principal’s designee must commence an investigation within five school days of the bullying being reported. The investigation then must be completed within 10 school days of the complaint.

“The district has a bullying policy, and we address issues as they come along,” she said.

Bickford said in an email that there is action taken on each report, but the findings do not always lead to a confirmation that bullying had occurred.

“As administrators, we try to get to the facts of the matter and look at all of the information we are able to learn,” she said. “There are often many sides to an issue, and not everyone may be happy with the results. We are as impartial and fair as we can be.”

Sounia said he has also been in touch with the Police Department about bullying outside of school. Police Chief Shaun Mulholland, acknowledging Sounia did contact the department, said he could not comment on the specifics of the situation but the department is looking into it.

“When we have bullying in the school and outside in the community, we work on those together, and that’s what we have done in this case,” he said. “We work with the school district to investigate collectively to solve the problem.”

Sounia said he questions whether all school administrators know what bullying is.

“Nobody seems to know how to see the signs of a bully until it’s too late,” he said.

Harassment allegations made recently in Lebanon, Raymond schools