This shouldn’t be an election issue. The fact that it is means we have failed our children in one of our most critical responsibilities as adults, and that is to keep them safe.
Let’s be clear. Kids need to learn how to deal with one another, socialize, address conflict and develop the skills of compromise and negotiation.
Teasing, competition and cliques in schools is all part of why kids “should” go to school. They need exposure so they can be prepared for adulthood. In the world after school, there are bosses, co-workers and all sorts of people that you need to know how to live with. This learning starts in school.
That is not this.
No… what this article is about is when bullying veers sharply into actual physical or mental harm…or the threat of it. According to the Canada Safety Council, violent incidents and aggression in schools are climbing. At the same time, underreporting of incidents by schools is also on the rise.
In an Angus Reid Poll in 2015 (https://angusreid.org/school-bullying/) 89% of Canadians say bullying is a serious problem and 75% say it will “never go away”. How can this be? We have anti-bullying days, policies in place and a “zero-tolerance” attitude. So, why are Canadians so sure it’s here to stay.
Data extrapolated from a UBC study (https://news.ubc.ca/2021/10/half-of-canadian-kids-witness-ethnic-racial-bullying-at-school-study/) indicates that 30% of student victims feel school staff are either entirely unaware of the bullying or actively ignore it.
More recently 43% of parents view school responses to reports of bullying as ineffective or unsatisfactory.
Again…how can this be?
The Abbotsford School District has a policy in place (https://www.abbyschools.ca/administrative-procedures/AP418) and a published Student Code of Conduct. However, it is plain to see that there is a massive difference between having a policy in place and seeing it implemented in schools.
If only 57% of parents think school responses to bullying events are satisfactory, then our schools are getting a D+ in this area… and it is time to do much better.
It takes seconds on a web search to find well reported incidents of serious bullying taking place in Canadian schools where personnel took little or no action.
In Abbotsford, according to policy, the very first thing an Administrator must do when a bullying event or threat is reported is to separate the parties and ensure the reporting student is placed in a secure, supportive environment (e.g., the principal’s or counselor’s office) away from the alleged aggressor.
If this the guiding policy, then why are there so many anecdotal incidents where the very same students are back in the same classroom the next day? Why are parental notifications sometimes overlooked?
There are too many “why’s” and clearly not enough action and attention paid to the policy.
To be fair, judging some of these situations in schools can be difficult, but I do think we can update the policy to ensure Administrators do better. For example:
- Parental notification should be immediate and mandatory. This should no longer be a judgement call.
- All students involved, aggressor and victim, should be removed from the classroom. The aggressor should remain out of the classroom until a full investigation is completed. They should not be in class together while a determination on the threat level is assessed. We can leverage online learning tools to ensure both safety and continued education for all those involved.
I’m sure you’re asking, “but aren’t these things already done?” No. The policy allows for a judgement call at the administrative level. If they weren’t failing at applying that judgement, I wouldn’t be writing this article.
What Can Parents Do?
Imagine your child is bullied. You aren’t taken seriously by school staff, so no escalation occurs. Your child goes to school every day, forced to sit next to the same kid. You go up the chain of command and contact the district administration, and they tell you to resolve it at the school level. Eventually, you are left with the option of reporting it on the Province’s ERASE tool (https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/erase). The result…they go right back to the people who dismissed you in the first place.
Wearing a pink shirt is not enough. Administrators need to be held accountable when they don’t uphold the policy in favour of their own judgement. We need to take the subjectivity out of bullying and take consistent, reliable action for each and every student.
If your child has been bullied or hurt at school and you don’t think it was handled correctly, report it to the BC Ombudsperson. Learn more at https://bcedaccess.com/know-your-rights/filing-complaints-and-appeals/