Pink is the new anti-bullying

The students and teachers have all been encouraged to wear pink for the day while the school participates in a few anti-bullying exercises.

“As well, we’re also going to have all of our students make a pledge, a peace pledge, where they’ll be writing it on little white doves to create a bulletin board, a peace board, with those little white doves,” Kozun said.

“You always have to be vigilant and you always have to watch for bullying and we try to be proactive rather than reactive.”

A similar statement came from Ken Belyea, principal of Arthur Pechey School.

“We’re a school that’s very much against bullying and take steps day in and day out to make sure kids are safe at school,” Belyea said.

He said bullying is minimal at their school, and keeping that awareness at the top of people’s minds makes a difference.

“We are using it as a spirit day and just a show of force that we are standing up against bullying … and there’s a zero tolerance for it at our school,” Belyea said.

For West Central School, this is not the first time they have participated in Pink Shirt Day.

Principal Roxane Bozak said they don’t have any concrete data showing that days like this work.

“When you have conversations with our students they are very aware of the virtues. In our daily life at school were constantly having virtue conversations with our students,” she said.

Awareness days like Pink Shirt Day really do work, according to Kevin Mugford, principal at Queen Mary School.

“We’ve made tremendous gains in schools overall to teach students that if they stand up for themselves and those in the larger parameter stand up for an individual who is being bullied it defers any of that type activity,” Mugford said.

He added that he feels he’s seeing less bullying now than in previous years.

sfroese@panow.com

by Stephanie Froese

Pink is the new anti-bullying

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