Much ado about bullying
By Chris Simon

Nantyr Shores Secondary School Grade 11 student Sheena Vendraminetto and Grade 12 student Meagan Fulton have been the victims of bullying for the last several years. Next month, provincial legislation will officially label bullying as a suspendable offence in all Ontario schools.

Meagan Fulton has been bullied since grade school.

The Nantyr Secondary School Grade 12 student has been teased and called names, and even had her online MSN Messenger account hacked. She's learned to deal with the insults, but claims her selfesteem has taken a hit from years of incidents.

"In elementary school, you hang out with certain cliques. (Bullies) base you on that, they don't really take the time to get to know you," said Fulton, sitting with her friend, Grade 11 student Sheena Vendraminetto, in the school's guidance office Monday morning. "It's mental abuse. I've had my MSN hacked into and a whole bunch of people wrote stuff about me and my friends. Over the years, it's been physical and mental, it's pretty terrible. You never really get used to it, but we try to push through with it."

Vendraminetto knows what Fulton has been dealing with. She's also been teased over the last few years, with bullies constantly making fun of her height.

"I'm so tall; I'm not the average girl, and that's why I get bullied a lot," she said.

"After awhile, it gets hard."

But new provincial legislation will attempt to crack down on bullying in schools. When it comes into effect Feb. 1, Bill 212 will, for the first time, specifically label bullying as a suspendable offence in Ontario schools.

Under the legislation, bullying will be defined as any act of persistent and aggressive behaviour that is intended to cause fear, distress or harm to another person's body, feelings, self-esteem or reputation.

The legislation will also encourage progressive discipline in schools, by requiring staff to host mediation conferences with affected students and their parents, before suspensions are issued, said Nantyr vice principal Debra Jago.

"Lots of behaviour within any social environment could be considered bullying," she said. "The progressive discipline does not encourage administrators to jump directly to suspension on some offences. Obviously, if it's a physical altercation, drugs, or weapons, that's a different story. (But) Bill 212 allows us to look at all mitigating circumstances before making a final decision on the (punishment)."

Nantyr and several other schools across the county have already been attempting to prevent bullying, along with other suspendable behaviour, for over a year. Last January, Nantyr and New Path Youth and Family Services began implementing a program to reduce suspensions and help atrisk students who attend the Alcona school. Staff target atrisk students, offering them counselling and peer mediation.

Most students who get into trouble are also offered counselling and mediation, and are given exercises that help them understand the consequences of their actions. Nantyr staff also involve parents, and teachers and principals from the student's previous school, to learn the best ways to handle the poor behaviour.

"This is not new to us," said Jago. "We're getting very close to where the rest of the province (will be) going, and we have been doing this for some time."

The board currently runs a school climate survey, and releases results to school staff, while many facilities offer support teams, peer mediators and bullying prevention programs.

According to those surveys, Nantyr students feel safe and secure in school. However, many school staff have indicated that several students are being bullied, said Jago.

It's often difficult for students being bullied to "rat out" their peers, said Jago.

"Increasing evidence is showing that sometimes peers intervention is far more beneficial than an adult to a young person. They see themselves in the same shoe," she said. "(Bill 212) just brings to the forefront what a dangerous situation (bullying is). Bullying permeates all levels of society, it's not just kids against kids. By embedding it in legislation, we recognize what a pervasive problem we've got."

Students may simply not want to report incidents, or fail to identify name calling, online harassment and physical abuse as bullying, she said.

"Students do not perceive there's a bullying problem in schools, teachers do," said Jago. "(Students) may not see it as being a dangerous behaviour. They see it, but they don't believe it's a problem."

Vendraminetto agrees with Jago's assessment, worrying bullying would escalate if the victims started reporting incidents to teachers and school staff.

"You go home and talk to your parents or a good friend," she said. "They're going to want to go to the school and talk about it. It becomes a bigger thing, because people worry you ratted them out."

Despite ongoing problems, Fulton still attempts to be friendly with her bullies.

"It's the old saying "Keep your friends close and your enemies closer"," she said. "I just try to be nice to them and see if they'll lay off. People just don't grow up some times."