Media attention on one ex-Ashburton College student’s experience saw people in Mid Canterbury take to social media to voice their thoughts on the incident. Many parents, relatives and former students claimed it was not an isolated incident and not just at the college.
Video footage of an Ashburton Intermediate School girl being attacked by a fellow student began circulating the internet, bringing light to more shocking behaviour within student bodies.
‘‘We have worked closely with all families concerned and also contacted the police so that they were aware of the incident.’’
Gray said as a result of the incident the board was working on their policies and procedures in dealing with such a harmful situation.
‘‘We are in regular contact with the victim and their family to support them...’’
He said social media played a role in cases of bullying, and increasing social media presence puts schools in a difficult position due to privacy laws and jurisdiction.
‘‘We are often referring parents and caregivers to Netsafe and the police if this is happening outside of school.
‘‘It is clearly an issue for families and schools and in most schools, education around this is increasingly becoming part of the yearly programme, even though many social media applications are age restricted.’’
He said schools had their own policies and procedures around dealing with bullying and many schools will be dealing with these issues, unfortunately, on a daily basis.
‘‘Knowing about these incidents and taking the time to deal with them can be ongoing.’’
Ashburton College principal Ross Preece was heavily criticized for his perceived ‘lack of action’ following the story of a former student’s bullying allegations.
But he said there are always two sides to every story.
‘‘Outcomes of discipline systems are confidential and schools cannot share these, therefore the temptation is to say that ‘nothing was done’.’’
‘‘Any claims are investigated and we follow our discipline and pastoral procedures. These are dealt with by the school where we have jurisdiction.
‘‘In some cases, the school doesn’t have jurisdiction, for example, if it happened in the holidays. The school or parents may notify the police but, again, there is a threshold that needs to be met before the police can become formally involved.’’
He said it remained imperative any incident be brought to the school’s attention so they could monitor the situation and act where appropriate.
‘‘A zero tolerance for bullying is a worthy goal. We support this ambition but the harsh reality is that in the real world all of us are going to have to develop strategies to cope with nasty stuff/unfriendly people/ mean colleagues or bosses,’’ he said.
He agreed having 24-hour access to social media is a cause of concern and places students in the crosshairs for receiving harmful content. Ashburton College uses Netsafe and promotes digital safety to students, but ‘‘young people test limits or ignore words of wisdom,’’ he said.
Preece said parents needed to accept responsibility of their child’s social media use and have some control, including when their children are using it, how long for, and what they’re using it for.
‘‘Parents will often be upset by the social media messages their child receives, however they are often surprised at the content their child is creating or passing on.’’
‘‘Going forward schools will continue to address bullying to the best of their ability,’’ Preece said.
He said bullying in schools ‘‘is not a new phenomena and it will continue to be a challenge in the future’’.
