Students allegedly post bully list online

Three students from Eric Hamber Secondary School involved in an online bullying list should be expelled from the school, says the sister of one of the students identified on the list.

Natasha Free Roussopoulos said she was told that three Grade 12 students have been suspended for their role in publishing a list identifying 100 fellow Grade 12 students as homosexual.

They were named using an offensive term for gay, she said.

She said the list was published privately online on Google Docs.

Roussopoulos said her brother was one of the people on the list. Postmedia reached out to him through his sister but he did not respond.

Roussopoulos said she found the idea of publishing such an offensive list in 2019 so extreme that it was almost impossible to believe.

“It was really upsetting,” Roussopoulos said. “I don’t think that it should at all be acceptable.”

Roussopoulos is a graduate of Templeton Secondary in Vancouver and is now at the University of Toronto.

The Vancouver school board confirmed Thursday that school administrators found out about a “serious breach of Eric Hamber Secondary School’s Code of Conduct” on Monday.

But Patricia MacNeil, VSB communications official, wouldn’t confirm that three students were suspended, citing privacy concerns.

The VSB statement didn’t describe the incident other than to say that “a list of members of the school community, containing inappropriate content, was circulated.

“Student well-being is the top priority at Eric Hamber Secondary and throughout the Vancouver School District,” MacNeil said in the statement.

“The school principal has provided a letter to parents indicating that every step is being taken to address the matter. Further investigation continues and parents have been asked to contact the school if their child has any additional information that would be helpful in that regard.

“As the matter is further assessed, appropriate disciplinary actions will be taken in addition to ensuring students and staff receive the support they need.”

The school’s Gay/Straight Alliance did not respond to an email.

Roussopoulos said she felt expulsion was needed because of what her brother called “a culture of a lot of bullying ” at the school.