Cyberbullying task force releases report
Posted Mar 22, 2012 09:58:56 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The provincial task force on cyberbullying is releasing its report and recommendations.
The Force was created in light of several teen suicides in the province – suicides that were prompted by bullying.
The 100-page report includes 85 recommendations, including one to appoint an Anti-Bullying Coordinator.
“So we suggested a very significant recommendation that there be an Anti-Bullying Coordinator with an office adequately staffed who is going to coordinate the various partners that we talk about,” says Cyberbullying Task Force Chair Wayne MacKay. “(They’d) be involved in selecting what are the best programs and interventions, and basically also, in a sense, monitoring.”
Education Minister Ramona Jennex says, while she appreciates all recommendations in the report, she can’t commit to anything yet. When it comes to appointing a Anti-Bullying Coordinator, she says money is a big issue standing in the way.
“I wouldn’t want this to be adding to administration,” she says. “We need to make sure we’re not adding more people in to a system. We already have people with expertise and different departments that we need to worker together on how we can fulfill this mandate without adding more bureaucracy.”
Some parents whose children have been bullied have called for legal consequences, but the report does not include that recommendation.
Instead, it says those who participate in bullying should be found to have committed student misconduct.
Jennex has yet to say how many of the 85 recommendations she will adopt.
