When schools don’t act against bullies
There is ‘‘no fixed rule’’ for schools about reporting bullying and dissonance surrounding different parties’ roles in preventing it, education sector say.
Parents, unsure who to call, often cast a wide net, inadvertently complicating future investigations – and their relationship with their child’s school.
A man whose then 12-year-old daughter was taunted, pushed around and had lunch money stolen off her for about 18 months, contacted police and the Ministry of Education after another child slapped her.
‘‘They stonewalled me, basically,’’ he said, alleging Whangaparoa College did not return his calls until he approached other agencies. The college did not respond to requests for comment from Stuff.
‘‘They wouldn’t give me any information. When they said they were investigating, there were no notes to show it . . .’’
When the college conducted an independent review, it found staff were left ‘‘somewhat in the dark’’ after the family contacted police, and that progress was ‘‘frustrated by [the school] not being engaged early enough’’.
After two years, the Ombudsman asked the college to better document instances of bullying but believed the girl ‘‘could be safely integrated back’’ into Whangaparaoa. She never was.
‘‘It’s the outside agencies that are really the problem,’’ the father said. ‘‘They could be doing a lot more.’’
Schools must keep students’ privacy in mind, and are not obliged to report bullying to parents or their boards of trustees until it becomes a question of student safety, suspension, or a police matter.
New Zealand School Trustees’ Association president Lorraine Kerr said boards were legally responsible for ensuring students’ health and safety ‘‘so far as is reasonably practicable’’, but often did not hear complaints about bullying until they’re ‘‘at the bottom of the cliff’’.
Progress on reducing bullying had long been stymied by agencies acting in ‘‘silos’’, Kerr said. She supported stronger reporting requirements, which the Human Rights Commission has lobbied for, but wondered what they would achieve.
The ministry’s Bullying Prevention Advisory Group (BPAG) – which includes representatives from education unions, agencies and other social services – meets quarterly to co-ordinate antibullying resources. But its members note ‘‘the ‘A’ stands for advisory’’ and the group has no decision-making powers.
Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) representative Kirsty Farrant said the idea schools should report bullying PPTA representative Kirsty Farrant wasn’t feasible ‘‘because bullying is such a highly variable thing’’.
‘‘Sometimes people aren’t sure where the lines are, whether it’s a police issue . . . or something they should deal with themselves. Knowing which agency to ring is an issue.
‘‘The reality is sometimes there will be situations that are so unusual that schools don’t know what to do.’’
Fellow BPAG member and Papatoetoe High School principal Vaughan Couillault agreed: ‘‘What you think is appropriate certainly depends on what side on the fence you sit on.’’
But families of bullied children who hit a wall with schools and other agencies have little recourse. Lawyers working for school boards said threats of legal action rarely materialised, partly because it was hard to find a remedy, but also because ‘‘there’s no human right not to be bullied’’.
While principals said they needed parents’ trust to curb bullying, the father said he couldn’t get his daughter to see a counsellor because of the way school staff reacted to her bullying. Now 16, the girl has left school to work. ‘‘She will never be the same with what’s happened,’’ her father said.