By Chris Missiuna
Karen Gledhill, principal at Lisgar Collegiate high school, welcomes the Ontario government’s announcement that every school in the province will receive between $1,500 and $2,000 for bullying prevention.
Gledhill says the new money should save the school from using its own funds to pay for bullying prevention. Now that money can be spent elsewhere.
This money will help to pay for bullying awareness programs like the Canadian Half Pints who recently made an appearance at the school.
The Half Pints are a group of adults averaging four foot three inches in height. They play a game of basketball with students while advocating tolerance and acceptance through interaction and humour. Gledhill says the school paid about $800 and it was well worth the cost.
She says the presentation was targeted at students in Grades 9 and 10.
“By the time students reach the older grades they react less impulsively,” Gledhill says explaining why older students weren’t involved.
David Millen, director of Child and Youth Friendly Ottawa, says while older students are less impulsive they still engage is less obvious bullying and should not be ignored.
Millen says either way the money the province is offering will help but is not nearly enough.
“It’s a good start but I don’t believe it’s adequate,” Millen says. “I don’t know how you could stretch that amount of money per school to do it justice in the long term.”
Wilma Davis, a Ministry of Education spokeswoman, says the money will be distributed to different school boards over three years. She says the funding is to promote education. “In order for students to learn, they need to feel they’re in a safe environment.”
But Millen says the issue of bullying must be addressed more broadly. He says teachers and principals need to be trained how to identify it, react to it, and resolve it. “There are no formal [bullying] training programs for teachers in the school system at present.”
He says this would cost a significant amount of money but would represent real bullying prevention. “An assembly is not bullying prevention,” says Millen, who regularly conducts presentations about bullying at Ottawa schools.
Bullying prevention must be constant and involve the community, Millen says. “It’s about teaching kids about getting along with one another.”
Tom D’Amico, principal at Immaculata high school, says students learn values that go against bullying in their mandatory religion class.
He admits there is still a problem. “I would be naive to say there wasn’t bullying going on at a school with kids aged 12 to 17.”
D’Amico says the school’s bullying prevention focuses on Grades 7 and 8. In the older grades D’Amico says there are fewer reported incidents of bullying and there are other competing issues like drugs, alcohol and a focus on academics.
But D’Amico says the school plans to expand its program to the older grades and notes the province’s money will help. He says he doesn’t know how much money the school will be getting or how much discretion they will be given.
He says he expects to hear news at the next meeting of principals.
No one was available for comment at the public board of education but Mardi De Kemp at the Catholic school board says they are not aware of any specifics about the program.
David Millen makes the situation clear. “What is needed is a whole community approach,” he says. “Bullying isn’t going to be addressed by this one time, quick-fix method.”