B.C. Wants Action
Against Bullies
The British Columbia government is going after school districts that have yet to enforce a policy put in place three years ago aimed at curbing bullying and harassment, the Victoria Times Colonist1 reported Friday.
“We have found that there are literally hundreds of schools across the province who have not met those standards,” said Education Minister Shirley Bond2 in tabling Bill 22, the Education Statutes Amendment Act3 last week in the legislature. “So this piece of legislation will require school boards to ensure that every school has a policy in place, a student code of conduct that meets those standards.”
Under a policy produced in 2004, B.C.’s 60 school districts were ordered to implement codes of conduct that forbid unruly and unsafe behaviours on school property such as bullying, harassment, intimidation, physical violence, possession or distribution of illegal or restricted substances, possession or use of weapons, theft or damage to property.
Yet according to Bond, a recent survey revealed that to date only a third of the districts had in place codes of conduct that meet those standards. Bill 22 would make compliance mandatory, as well as require districts to come up with a specific process for handling students who breach the codes.
“We’re saying that it must be consistent across the province and in place in every school,” she told the Times-Colonist.
Opposition education critic David Cubberley said that while he welcomes the intent of the legislation, Bill 22 in his view “looks hollow” because it allows individual districts to decide for themselves what constitutes unacceptable behaviour.
“I’m concerned that, as I understand it,” he said, “this doesn’t actually set the standards that would go into the code.”
[*1] http://www.canada.com/components/print.aspx?id=7d49a96e-bea3-42f4-bf5d-ed74376ca1f4&k=1439
[*3] http://www.leg.bc.ca/38th3rd/1st_read/gov22-1.htm
