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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION
Confirm or deny allegations
The Lord Selkirk School Division is citing privacy in refusing to discuss details of how, last month, two students were convinced to eat moose droppings while on a school trip. There is justification, perhaps, for not releasing the names of teachers involved, but that should not excuse the board from addressing some details of the bullying, and the role and reaction of staff and senior administration at Walter Whyte School in Grand Marais.
On the Grade 8 canoe trip in late May, a parent supervisor tricked two students into eating moose droppings he had in a sandwich bag and described, one student said, as chocolate-covered almonds. According to the parents of the two victims, three school staff were present, including the principal.
The students, from the accounts, were humiliated as the adults laughed. One student vomited and got the feces stuck in her braces, and the other washed his mouth out in the lake. The division has confirmed all three staff members were aware the girl was given the moose poop.
The school board refuses to say what disciplinary action has been taken, but all three staffers were at school this week. The parents are holding back their children; one said his son will not return next fall if the principal is still there.
The parents allege students were warned not to speak of the moose poop incident.
Much work has gone into local and provincial programs to battle bullying at school, which can have profound impact on victims. Some called this a poorly conceived joke, but it is more like a cruel prank and the details imply there was some premeditation involved. Aside from potential health effects, the victims faced real humiliation, a hallmark of classic bullying.
That teachers watched the incident unfold is worrisome. The school board ought to confirm or deny publicly the claim students were told to keep it secret. Educators ought to have seen that as unethical and compounding the harm.
Public campaigns have reassured parents the provincial and school programs on bullying are taken seriously. This disturbing affair speaks otherwise and suggests some in charge "don't get it." The board owes the community a robust explanation. Education Minister Nancy Allan should send that message now, so good reparations can start before summer break.
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition June 8, 2012 A12
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