ERASE Bullying Strategy Visits Prince George
Wednesday, November 7, 2012 @ 3:56 AM
Prince George, B.C.- Provincial Education Minister Don MacRae is in Prince George yesterday, talking with teachers, the School District and others as the ERASE Bullying Strategy delivers special training programs throughout the region.
Although School District 57 has a protocol for dealing with incidents of bullying, as well as an anti bullying program that is delivered in schools, the ERASE Bullying strategy offers specialized training for teachers. “We have teachers from as far away as Fort Nelson, as far west as Burns Lake, as well as Prince George and Mackenzie taking part in the ERASE Bullying strategy”
The training is part of the 10 point strategy to eliminate bullying and a special anti bullying summit has been set for later this month “We will be bringing in about 120 individuals to Vancouver , everything from anti-bullying experts to community leaders, students as well, to basically get their sense on how bullying exists in the school system and if there are areas that we’re missing in our erase bullying strategy.”
MacRae says although schools have their own anti bullying programs, the world keeps changing “It’s important that we evolve with it. You think about 5 or 6 years ago, cyber bullying really wasn’t top of mind for many people. Cyber bullying is something that has changed dramatically and as the Minister of education as a government as a society I think it’s important that we constantly stop and check and see where we’re at, and see if we can do something better.”
MacRae says one thing he has learned is that bullying is no longer limited to the school yard “It can happen 24-7 if you use the online environment. I think a lot of parents, perhaps some teachers as well, don’t understand the ramifications of social media like Twitter or Facebook and even on a very base level we need to do some more education to make sure parents realize what kind of symptoms they can look for. Perhaps there is a young person in their family or someone they work with, may be experiencing some bullying and if they are, can we intervene early on?”
MacRae says parents need to get up to speed on the new language that has developed “You know, POS doesn’t mean Point Of Sale, it is Parent Over Shoulder, these are little tidbits that I think parents need to realize that we didn’t grow up with and it’s evolving rapidly.”
MacRae hopes a new online website that is under development will help parents increase their awareness and provide supports to assist parents who recognize bullying activity.
Comments
There should be zero tolerance for bullying. It is not a right of passage for kids as some still think.
By the way, I thought POS meant something else entirely – that I can’t post.
I thought it meant Party On Sage!
Good luck with that bullying thing.
Bullying is a fact of life whether it be a child, teenager or Mom/Dad. We are bullied at work, we are bullied by our politicians, and we bully each other to get what we want.
Ms. Clark excused Mr. Campbell’s unprofessional conduct…PS that is bullying at it’s “best”. The City’s RCMP fiasco another example. Steven Harper’s actions yet another example. Until there are financial and legal consequences to unacceptable behaviour…bullying will continue.
Everyone must speak out and I hate to say it, get one of those “Lawyers”…involved. Keep good notes and let them have it. Most bully’s don’t see anything wrong with what they are doing…they also learn by example…except those with narcissistic tendencies. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissistic_personality_disorder
Do you recognize your bully in this definition?
I commend this anti-bullying action plan because no one should be persecuted for being themselves.
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