Students return to class after suspension

A group of students at a school in the Louis Riel School Division were allowed to return to classes this week after a six-week suspension for an alleged hazing incident earlier this fall.

A small group of Grade 12 students told some Grade 9 students to meet them at a nearby St. Vital park after school, according to media reports.

When the younger students arrived at the park, they had their rear ends paddled with hockey sticks and skateboards by the older students.

“This is a very serious incident. It’s the only one this year. We do not tolerate hazing. Many young people fear hazing. I don’t think young people should have to go to school and fear,” Louis Riel School Division superintendent Terry Borys told the Lance last Friday.

“There is a code of silence unfortunately, the (bullied or bystander) students are afraid to seek help. When we’re made aware of it, we act.”

The division acted by suspending the students for six weeks.

Louis Riel School Division board chairperson Mike Ducharme said he couldn’t comment on the specifics of the situation and that both the bullies and the bullied were entitled to their privacy.

“We have a strict policy on not commenting on details,” said Ducharme.

But bullying expert Barbara Coloroso says the suspension in itself is only a step in the right direction not the answer to the problem.

“(The community) has got some work to do. Suspension in itself doesn’t work unless there’s some other things that happens with it. The bully needs to fix what he’s done, figure out how to keep it from happening again and heal with the people they’ve harmed,” said Coloroso, author of The Bully, The Bullied and The Bystander.

“There are seven types of bullies and the bullied bully is the most difficult to deal with. This would alarm me (if it was in my community) because it sounds like the bully has developed contempt.”

The American teacher-turned author and educational consultant said, “You want to give the bully chances to do good because just as when you bully, when you do good, you’re changed. You want to nurture empathy. And reform the bully...It’s definitely never too late to help (the bully and the bullied).”

After years of working to teach reconciliatory justice and help mend bullying situations across Canada, the United States as well as Europe, Asia, Australia and more, Coloroso explains there is a difference between a youth striking back and developing contempt.

“Striking back is hurting the kids that hurt him. A kid that developed contempt is hurting an innocent person and justifying it...The bullied bully has contempt for him or herself too because no one helped him when he was bullied. So he starts beating himself up...I wouldn’t take (the development of contempt) lightly,” said Coloroso.

Borys confirms the board isn’t taking the situation lightly at all but feels what they are doing is working.

“There are many anti-bullying initiatives in place at all schools in the division...By the seniors years we hope the students have become responsible young people...Young people make choices. These ones made very poor choices,” said Borys.

“I hope they realize it was a poor choice. I think the work we’re doing is working for the large majority.”

Coloroso says she hopes when communities experience situations of bullying they ban together to help all those affected heal.

“It’s never too late. Start whenever you can. You know, genocide doesn’t start as genocide, it starts as contempt for another human being,” said Coloroso.