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SCHOOLS AND STUDENTS NEED BETTER RESOURCES AND ANTI-VIOLENCE PROGRAMS, EXPERTS SAY. 'A lot of work' ahead to combat bullying A lack of funding, lack of programming, resistance by educators, neglect by parents and a culture that loves violence — there are many barriers to those who battle against bullying . “It is like rolling a stone up a hill, but you have to keep rolling it,” says Alan Leschied, an expert in youth violence and professor at the University of Western Ontario. The suicide of Joshua Melo, a Grade 10 student at Strathroy District Collegiate Institute last Friday has raised questions about the effectiveness of anti-violence programs in schools. “Why is it still happening? There is lot of work being done by a lot of people but there is a lot of work to do,” Leschied says. The Thames Valley District school board is recognized as a leader in developing programs to discourage bullying. The good ones teach children the skills to refuse to be bullied, to report bullies and not to stand by when others are bullied, says Ray Hughes, the former safe schools co-ordinator at the board who is developing a national education program. “Telling kids to simply say 'no' to bullying or sex or drugs is not enough,” he said. The problem is, not all programs teach those skills, and no programs are mandatory for Ontario schools. Many school boards resist spending money and time on
anti-violence programs, says Thames Valley trustee Peter Jaffe. “Many
school boards are so obsessed with reading and writing and math results.
Every school should be rated on whether students feel safe.” Boards have
to take money from other areas to fight bullying because the province
does not provide funding for anti-violence programs, Hughes noted. “We
need funds to support violence prevention in the province of Ontario . .
. and it's not there,” he said. “It has to be embedded in the
curriculum. We can't just fly in and put up a banner one week saying,
'No more violence,' then move on to the next subject.” The problems
often surface in schools but go beyond schools, he added. “It's a very,
very complex problem. The schools have a role. But so do police and
community organizations. We also have to look at parents. “Kids learn
these skills of being a bully at a very early age. Kids are coming into
school at junior kindergarten and are bullying others.” While more than a dozen organizations met yesterday in Ottawa to launch the initiative, Mike Neuts of Chatham-Kent sat in his house and cried. “I read that story and I cried like a baby. I called to tell my wife at work and she said she had read it and cried.” Their son, Myles Neuts, died at a Chatham school in 1998 at the age of 10 after schoolmates hung him on a hook in a washroom. Mike Neuts wants school boards to track students showing signs of being bullies and to provide treatment to them. And he called on parents to take time to pay attention to their kids, to learn if they are bullies or are being bullied. “Parents view schools as babysitters,” he said. “We don't take the time to be strong family people.”
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