Regional News
February 04, 2010 10:33 AM
By Kim Zarzour:
A new law requiring school staff to report all serious incidents, such as bullying, to the principal takes effect in Ontario schools this week, but not everyone is optimistic about the results.
A new law requiring school staff to report all serious incidents, such as bullying, to the principal takes effect in Ontario schools this week, but not everyone is optimistic about the results.
Bill 157 was passed last June and took effect Monday. It spells out how school employees should respond to negative student behaviour and requires staff who work with students to respond to inappropriate and disrespectful behaviour.
A key element is mandatory reporting to principals, and a stipulation that principals, in turn, must contact parents of victims - provided the principal thinks it's in the victim's best interest.
Ontario is the first province in Canada to make this reporting mandatory.
But some parents, politicians and teachers say the law won't do much to stop student violence.
Karen Sebben, head of the York Region Anti-bullying Coalition, said the bill is "a waste of taxpayers dollars and it will do nothing to decrease the number of incidents of aggression".
Ms Sebben, of Holland Landing, moved to the forefront of the battle against bullying after her son was victimized for years. She said Bill 157 would not have prevented, or solved, her son's problems, and she doesn't think it will help others, either.
"Bill 157 isn't about keeping kids safe. It's about requiring employees to respond, requiring principals to contact parents, requiring employees to report, allowing principals to delegate. For the life of me, I don't understand how this is going to work towards a heightened awareness or a decrease in the amount of student-on-student aggression. Bill 157 is about communication and nothing more than an attempt [by the ministry] to look good."
Ms Sebben, along with other parents' groups, NDP education critic MPP Rosario Marchese and Tory MPPs Peter Shurman of Thornhill and Joyce Savoline, had been pushing for tougher legislation, including a law requiring principals to report serious incidents to police, Children's Aid Societies or school board administrators.
But their demands didn't get past the Liberal-dominated standing committee that reviewed the bill.
Ministry of Education officials say the legislation makes schools safer by addressing the reporting gap between principals, teachers and parents about serious incidents that must be considered for suspension or expulsion.
Bullying became a suspendable offence in February, 2008.
Officials at both York Region schools boards say the legislation enhances what's already being done in local schools.
"We've always been conscientious in supporting victims, so the only change is that it is now considered mandatory," said Lee Wilson, the Catholic board's superintendent in charge of Safe Schools. "This new bill will allow us to provide even more support to victims, while continuing to build a positive school culture."
"The net effect will be to strengthen and improve the processes that are already being carried out," said Ross Virgo, York Region public school board's spokesperson. "The wide belief is that schools are and have been actively responding to bullying for some time."
But the NDP's Mr. Marchese goes further. Not only is the bill "simply putting in the form of law what we are already doing in practice", he said it is "skimpy" because it does not deal with wider issues like prevention.
Ministry spokesperson Patricia MacNeil said the bill was meant to build on the province's existing safe schools strategy. The ministry already has a policy requiring boards to have procedures for dealing with bullying prevention and intervention, she said. "There's quite a bit of awareness and prevention programs in place now. This is the other side of the coin."
Some teachers worry the new law adds another layer of paperwork to their job. Ms Sebben said teachers have expressed concern to her that administrators want to keep suspensions down to avoid the paperwork, and this just adds to it.
Representatives from all boards met in Toronto in October to learn about what the bill entailed and were expected to share that information with school staff including caretakers, secretaries and bus drivers.
Ken Coran, head of Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation, said not all boards are moving ahead as quickly as hoped. "It was hoped they'd be trained by Nov. 30, but that wasn't the case."
Some boards did not engage in a full discussion of the bill until this past Monday's P.A. day, the same day the bill took effect, he said.
"Quite frankly, a lot of effort went into the development of the bill. Our concern is we want successful implementation."
At the same time, he said, teachers believe the real solution to school violence may lie elsewhere. "Our philosophy all along as a federation has been that the more adults you have in a school, the greater bearing it will have on the way any negative behaviour is addressed."