Lanyards banned in Alberta schools
Move after student’s near strangulation
Lanyard use has been halted in schools provincewide pending investigation following the near death of a student at Bearspaw School.
The Grade 3 student is in critical condition at the Alberta Children’s Hospital after being found unconscious with a lanyard around his neck, stuck in the door of a washroom cubicle earlier this week.
Education Minister Jeff Johnson said every school board in Alberta has now been ordered to follow Rocky View Schools’ lead by suspending the single-strand cords.
“We need to be vigilant to make sure our schools are as safe as they possibly can,” Johnson told reporters late Friday after a previously arranged meeting with school board trustees.
The boy was discovered unconscious by another student, about four minutes after signing out to use the wash- room at the K-8 school north of Calgary.
The boy is still alive because of the quick actions of a teacher who performed first aid. The teacher was informed and, as a St. John first-aid instructor, began CPR to revive the boy. Foul play has been ruled out.
“This appears at this time to be a tragic, tragic accident,” said RCMP spokesman Cpl. Darrin Turnbull.
Rocky View Schools superintendent Greg Bass said he doesn’t know how the child was injured.
“Our entire organization is very shocked and almost in a state of disbelief. Our thoughts and prayers are with the student and the family at this time,” Bass said.
“I am very appreciative of the very quick and professional response of staff members at Bearspaw School.”
The child is in intensive care at hospital. A crisis response team has been brought in to the school to help students, staff and parents.
It’s unknown what type of lanyard was involved.
“We continue to gather information about the accident. What exactly transpired in the washroom to result in these injuries remains unknown,” Bass said.
The education minister estimated students at the majority of Alberta’s more than 2,000 schools use lanyards. They can be used for hall passes, washroom passes and identification, and it’s traditionally been up to schools to set their own policies.
In Calgary, spokeswoman Janet Corsten said the Calgary Catholic School District was on board with the suspension.
“We’ll be looking into it immediately on Monday,” Corsten said late Friday.
She added that elementary students at Calgary’s Catholic schools do not wear lanyards, though older students in junior and senior high may use lanyards to display their ID badges.
“High schools will definitely be affected by this,” Corsten said.
Representatives from the Calgary Board of Education could not be reached late Friday.
Earlier in the day, Calgary Board of Education spokeswoman Cathy Ward said lanyards are used by students at public schools and that the board was awaiting details of the tragic incident in Bearspaw before moving forward.
“If there’s anything that we can learn from this to make our students safer we will absolutely look at it and learn from it,” Ward said.
The CBE and the Calgary board both say they exceed the minimum number of staff required to have firstaid training at their schools and workplaces.
“The guidelines are based on the number of staff members in a particular school,” Corsten said.
“So we would always exceed the number required by Alberta Occupational, Health and Safety.”