As of Friday, provisions of Bill 212, the Education Amendment Act, (Progressive Discipline and School Safety Act), 2007 became effective across the province in an effort to make Ontario schools safer.
Locally, the Rainy River District School Board and the Northwest Catholic District School Board have been re-examining policies and procedures in order to comply with the amended Ontario Safe Schools Act.
“There are things the ministry is now saying we have to do, but we’ve been moving towards doing some of it already,” noted Heather Campbell, superintendent of education for the Rainy River District School Board.
Bill 212 amends the “safe school” provisions implemented by the previous Conservative government in 2000.
It created a “zero tolerance” approach to student discipline, and led to a large number of suspensions and expulsions.
Now the McGuinty government is taking a different approach to student discipline, such as progressive discipline, which requires principals to “consider mitigating and other factors before students are suspended or expelled.”
Mitigating factors include whether a student is able to control his or her behaviours or understand the consequences of the behaviours, while other factors may include the age and history of the student.
“As far as progressive discipline, every school [within the board] practices that to begin with,” Campbell noted. “We’re looking more now at prevention and intervention wherever possible.”
According to the amendment, schools are to respond to inappropriate behaviours in the most appropriate way instead of automatic suspensions and expulsions, which could include meeting with parents or a referral to a community agency.
Education minister Kathleen Wynne stressed in a press release that to help make these changes successful, school boards are being encouraged to work closely with local community agencies.
“The primary purpose of a progressive discipline plan is to bring about improvement in behaviour,” stated an introduction to the Northwest Catholic District School Board’s progressive discipline procedures.
“This is accomplished by establishing a set of clearly understood expectations that are fair and reasonable, along with a series of consequences for those who choose not to follow the expectations.”
There also are changes regarding the polices and procedures surrounding suspensions and expulsions.
This includes the development of a Student Action Plan for students on a long-term suspension or expulsion to allow them to continue their education, and having in place appeal procedures for suspensions and expulsions.
Another key amendment to the Safe Schools Act centres around bullying. Bullying is now added to the list of behaviours for which students can be suspended.
Bullying is defined as “repeated, persistent, and aggressive behaviour directed at an individual or individuals that is intended to cause (or should be known to cause) fear and distress and/or harm to another person’s body, feelings, self-esteem, or reputation.”
Bullying is further defined as taking different forms: physical, verbal, or social.
“There’s a real recognition of how important that it is to acknowledge how bullying has long-term effects on students,” Campbell remarked.
Boards have established procedures on prevention of bullying and actions to take when bullying behaviour is evident. There are bullying tracking forms, as well as a bullying/harassment survey for elementary students.
In addition, the government has provided funding to school boards across the province to invest in safer schools and bullying prevention.
On top of the $28.7 million already invested, the provincial government is investing a further $43.7 million for 2007-08.
Some of the funds will go towards programs and supports to address inappropriate behaviour and for other safe school initiatives, including providing training to school board teams.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
