Thank you, Mr. Speaker. On May 31, 2013, our Minister of Education indicated to us that legislation alone to deal with bullying was not enough. He indicated then: “…we will finalize our Territorial Safe Schools Action Plan to address bullying and develop regulations, policies and procedures that will create safe learning environments.” So my questions today are for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
On October of that year, the Standing Committee on Social Programs on Bill 12, An Act to Amend the Education Act, recommended that a territorial code of conduct for safe schools guidelines and regulations be provided by the standing committee and other stakeholders in education for review and feedback in advance of their enactment.
Can the Minister indicate if this reasonable request from standing committee was ever acted on in good faith by the department? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. The honourable Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. When we first talked about the safe and caring school legislation, there was discussion about a territorial school code of conduct being established in all schools. So those are just some of the discussions and engagements we’ve had with the school boards. They are moving forward to developing their own code of conduct within the school establishment. That has been in place.
There has been a lot of discussion happening at the school level. We are hoping in the beginning of the 2015-16 school year an overall code of conduct will be established. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
So from what I’m gathering, we are still working on that program. A further action of this report by standing committee was that a territorial code of conduct, safe school guidelines and school practices should empower bystanders to report bullying and ensure protective measures are taken afterwards.
Can the Minister indicate how is it today monitored, measured and reported to this department and to Members of this House? Thank you.
Each school is provided with the tools and supports to develop and implement the most effective and relevant safe school plan for their school and also the community, and there’s also an evaluation monitoring mechanism. With every program that we’ve established, we’ve initiated, there’s a MEA, monitoring evaluating accountability aspect to it because it’s very important that we evaluate how our program is operating. So, this is one area that we continue to push forward with the school boards on an annual basis. Mahsi.
Another action of the standing committee is to provide schools with the option of adopting mandatory counselling to bullies and provide adequate resources to schools choosing this course of action.
Can the Minister indicate is this being done in our schools and can he elaborate on the results? Thank you.
There’s a variety of stakeholders involved with these types of discussion. One of the areas that the Member is alluding to, mandatory counselling, has been brought up. We’re fully aware of that, and even the superintendents of school boards are aware of it, as well, and how can we mitigate that into our current code of conduct measures.
So, these are ongoing discussions that we are currently having with the school boards. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Dolynny.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the Minister’s response on the last one.
Standing committee again recommended that ECE should stay abreast of the website developments that pose a risk to students and that ECE provide an updated list to education authorities of those websites that should be blocked on school communication systems.
Can the Minister indicate if this is indeed in place and how is it working? Thank you.
There are all kinds of websites that have been established within my department. We’re working with the school boards. There are some websites that may not be suitable for various reasons and it’s been highlighted. What the Member is referring to is gearing towards that as well.
So, we are, again, working with the DECs and DEAs to capture that, and if it’s a concern, then we need to address it. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
