Results of a school satisfaction survey presented during the Sea to Sky School Board meeting this week has shown that Squamish's Grade 10 students feel slightly less safe than as the majority of the province, highlighting recent attention on the problem of bullying among local teenaged students.
During the school board meeting Wednesday (Oct. 13), superintendent of schools Dr. Rick Erickson said the goal continues to be 100 per cent student safety.
"A safe and secure environment is a number one priority for students and staff in order for learning to take place - it's an impediment to learning when people are traumatized," said Erickson.
The Ministry of Education Sea to Sky satisfaction survey, highlighted three questions: Do you feel safe at school? At school, are you bullied, teased, or picked on? Do you know how your school expects students to behave?
The most disturbing result from last year's survey, said Erickson, was only 67 per cent of Grade 10 students claiming to feel safe at school compared to the provincial of 73 per cent.
"We have been working quite diligently in all of our schools on this topic and it is a challenge," he said.
Other concerning results included 12 per cent of Grade 10 students saying they were bullied, teased or picked - an increase of three per cent from last year and five per cent more than the seven per cent provincial average.
Erickson said the three per cent increase may be due to the fluctuation of student groups from year to year.
"Sometimes we think we have a problem taken care of but we need to remember that every year a whole new group comes into a school and so the problem is never taken care of," he said.
Grade 10 students were also below average when questioned over behaviour expectation - 54 per cent of students claimed to know what was expected compared to 67 per cent provincially.
Grade 12 students fared much better with only four per cent saying they were bullied, teased or picked on compared to 10 per cent last year and six per cent provincially. They also achieved parity with the province for feeling safe at school and knowing what behaviour was expected.
The situation among Grade 10 students appears to support recent frustrations among parents whose children of the same age group are being bullied.
At a Sept. 22 school board meeting, Sea to Sky director of instruction Rose MacKenzie said all schools should aspire to be more like Don Ross Secondary, where the sense of school community runs strong and students and staff alike are inclusive.
However only two days later, a lunch hour altercation between two boys at Don Ross off school property left 14-year-old Austin Aldridge in the hospital with a concussion and a broken hand.
Dubbed a "cockfight" by Austin's mother, the two teens said they were forced to fight while surrounded by 25 or so teenagers egging the boys on and videotaping the incident.
The vice-principal later deleted the video and the two students who fought were suspended.
The widely publicized and disturbing incident has school officials trying to figure out how the incident could have been prevented and what initiatives to take now, but local parents are convinced more serious measures should be taken.
Local mother Bianca Peters, who launched the Facebook group Bully Free Howe Sound last spring after the same group of boys victimized her son for more than two years, said the incident shows the school district continues to be ineffective when it comes to teen violence.
"I don't think that our school board knows how to handle bullying," said Peters. "It's like Keystone Cops. They're fumbling, they're reacting instead of having a plan."
She is taking her frustrations to the next level and has requested to appear before the school board on Nov. 10 to propose a change to the law and policies surrounding bullying.
"Too many children are being hurt and it must stop now," she said. "Our children deserve the right to go to school without fear and it is our job to protect them.
"I am proposing an amendment to the Code of Conduct for all schools in our community and it shall state 'Any threatening or physical assault involving students 12 years and older on or off school grounds shall be immediately turned over to police for investigation.'"
Peters said this tactic might receive more attention from teen bullies than other measures the school district has taken.
"Teachers and school administration must act on incidents of threatening or physical assault right away and can be suspended for not reporting or blocking collection of evidence," she said.
Erickson said Don Ross responded to the most recent incident by holding a half hour school wide assembly and two classes focused on a bullying prevention prepared by one of the teachers.
He said the students also reviewed their agenda, which has a section on non-bullying and bystanders.
Last week, former school trustee Doug Hackett wrote a letter to The Chief stating problems of violence are a police responsibility.
"A positive change for schools would be to have the Criminal Code enforced by the police so that our educators could concentrate on administering the School Act," he wrote.
Erickson said he felt involving police more consistently defeated the purpose of education.
"The purpose of an education is to learn and as educators, teachers, sports staff, what we do is we work with kids when they have misbehaved," he said.
"I'm aware of that particular option [including police]but it doesn't provide the flexibility of working with youth. There are situations where enough is enough and where those situations exist, we don't hesitate to advise individual, students or adults, of the expectations we have and the consequences."
