Cyberbullying report a start, not a solution
Posted Mar 23, 2012 06:16:23 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Students and teachers say the first report from Nova Scotia’s cyberbullying task force is a good start to combat bullying and cyberbullying in the province’s schools.
The task force was established last April after two sets of grieving parents publicly complained that online bullying was responsible for the suicides of their teenage daughters.
Minister of Education Ramona Jennox says she will review the report before adopting any of its 85 recommendations, which had no costs attached.
Sir John A MacDonald student, Allie Taylor, was in the audience for the report’s release Thursday afternoon.
“I definitely think changes are needed,” Taylor told News 95.7. “I’m not sure if bullying can ever truly be stopped, but I think we’re taking the right steps.”
Taylor said she’s hoping the government will follow through on the recommendation to appoint an anti-bullying coordinator, who would oversee and monitor acts of bullying in schools.
Jennex is challenging that recommendation, saying she doesn’t want another layer of bureaucracy.
Taylor, 17, told reporters she has been a victim of relentless taunting and said more attention needs to be focused on the problem.
“Bully wasn’t the right term,” said Taylor. “It has this stigma about it where it’s just schoolyard taunting. But it’s gotten to the point where it’s harassment.”
Jennex made it clear she is also opposed to a recommendation to ban cellphones in the classroom.
The president of the Nova Scotia Teacher Union said there’s only one item in the report she disagrees with.
That’s the recommendation that a teacher’s performance appraisals would reflect bullying in their classroom.
“That one report indicates that that one teacher can have a mark against her or him if the bullying continues,” said Alexis Allen. “I’ve often had 35 (students) in my junior high class. If I couldn’t correct that one behaviour of that child, should I have that on my performance appraisal? I think that’s going too far.”
Otherwise, Allen said the government should invest money into implementing the recommendations.
