2012 march 27 DPAC Letter on Bullying
CKPG news report:
March 27, 2012
Attention: School District 57 School Board Members
Re: Bullying in Schools
Dear School District Trustees;
Our District Parent Advisory Council is concerned about the multiple stories of bullying in schools brought forward by adults and youth from the LGBTQ community at the January and the February 2012 Public School Board meetings. Furthermore, we are aware of other issues with parents bringing bullying concerns to DPAC, such as harassment of a fragrance-sensitive student, Twitter threats to students, and reports of bullying on unsupervised areas of playgrounds.
This leads us to believe that bullying is a very real issue within a number of elementary and secondary schools in this School District.
DPAC appreciates and supports the School District’s “zero tolerance” policy on bullying in schools; however, there seems to be multiple examples of a disconnect between the purpose of that policy, and its actual application in schools within this district. We understand that there is an education and awareness component, and an enforcement component to addressing bullying in our schools.
It is our opinion that the policy needs to be seen as being enforced within our schools, on school grounds, and online.
As an example, there are very progressive anti-bullying initiatives being implemented in other school districts that utilized online social media. The Teens Networking Together (TNT) project is just one example of new social media initiative that helps teens combat bullying, report concerns, and access support services within a school district, as an initiative between School District 68 Nanaimo-Ladysmith, Central Vancouver Island Crisis Society, and the RCMP. This initiative can be accessed online at www.tntnanaimo.com.
Our District Parent Advisory Council wishes to be involved collaboratively with anti-bullying initiatives across the district, and would like to work with the School District on the matter.
Sincerely,
___________________________________
Don Sabo; SD 57 DPAC Chair
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