The chair of the Vancouver School Board welcomes provincial government plans, announced Thursday, for anti-bullying measures aimed at B.C. schools, but said the district is a leader on the subject.
Its positive theyre taking some action I would actually think Vancouver could provide some really good expertise. Weve done a lot of work in this area, said Patti Bacchus, a Vision Vancouver trustee. We have our own social responsibility department that has done a great deal of work. Whether its anti-homophobia work, anti-racism [work] or diversity training, its an important area. Some districts probably dont have the same capacity to have that staff expertise at the district level.
The Ministry of Education issued a request for proposals, with a Jan. 20, 2012 deadline, for a contractor to develop and deliver anti-bullying training to promote safer schools.
The successful applicant will provide extensive face-to-face training within school districts, develop website content and provide initial support to district teams on serious incidents within districts, according to a ministry press release.
Specifically, the contractor will provide training and resources that will enable parents, teachers and administrators to recognize and talk to students or their child about steps to take if theyre concerned about bullying, training for school and district teams to help districts create safe school environments, and specialized training on threat and risk assessment to help teachers to recognize behaviours and help them create community teams to address situations as they arise.
The training and resources will be made available to all public elementary and secondary schools.
When asked if the VSB has room for improvement when it comes to tackling the bullying problem, Bacchus said the district treats it as a priority.
You can always look for areas to improve, so wed welcome any additional information or expertise that comes forward, but I would suspect we would be looked to as a resource for this, she said, adding she wants more students consulted to see if there are any new trends in bullying that should be addressed. She said not all bullying incidents are reported.
This is another one of these areas for increased student engagementtalking with students, working with students about what is affecting them and what needs to be done, she said.
The VSB does not keep stats on bullying incidents.
Twitter: @Naoibh
