Legislation Supports Well-being of Children and Youth

Amendments to Schools Act, 1997 Enhance Anti-bullying Efforts

An Act to Amend the Schools Act, 1997 is receiving second reading in the House of Assembly today, following through on the Provincial Government’s stated intention to enact legislation around safe and caring school environments.

“As a government committed to the health, safety, and well-being of children and youth, we were very pleased on Monday to launch a new Safe and Caring Schools Policy which was supported by education and community partners throughout the province. Now we are putting the legislation in place to ensure that the new policy will be consistently applied at all schools, and that protocols designed to prevent, intervene and record incidents of bullying and other inappropriate behaviours are in place.”
- The Honourable Clyde Jackman, Minister of Education

Minister Jackman noted the amendments would require every school to have a code of conduct, a definition of bullying (as defined in the Safe and Caring Schools policy), a bullying intervention protocol, and all schools would also be required to collect data related to inappropriate behaviour. Students, teachers, principals, school councils, along with school board and district personnel, are all assigned responsibility for promoting safe and caring learning environments.

There are also minor amendments to the act to reflect changes to the organizational structure of English-language school boards. For example, a school board is now permitted to hire an associate director, and the maximum number of assistant directors a single school board may hire has been increased – given there is now only one English school board.

The Government of Newfoundland and Labrador is committed to supporting important social programs, strong communities and the health and well-being of children, families and seniors.

QUICK FACTS

• The Provincial Government is making amendments to the Schools Act, 1997 to make the promotion, and implementation, of Safe and Caring Schools policy a part of legislation.
• On Monday, December 2, the Provincial Government launched a new Safe and Caring Schools Policy. Amendments to the legislation are designed to support and strengthen implementation of that policy.
• The amendments would require every school to have a code of conduct, a definition of bullying (as defined in the new Safe and Caring Schools policy), and a bullying intervention protocol.
• All schools would also be required to collect data related to inappropriate behaviour.

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Media contact:
Heather May
Director of Communications
Department of Education
709-729-0048, 697-5061
heathermay@gov.nl.ca

2013 12 05                                        4:10 p.m.