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Boys will b6 boys? By CHERYL ELLIOT Special to the Beaver ullying, the ageâ€"old problem in playgrounds, is still alive in schools today, but the Halton Board of Education is taking new steps to deal with ‘ the problem. A survey of 2,200 students by the board shows that nearly 50% of the students have been victims of bullying, Harvey Lemmon â€" a social worker for the board â€" told a Parent’s Voice For Action meeting recently in Bronte. Parent’s Voice For Action is an informa- 0 tion network of 100 parents which started in Halton last year. i Lemmon’s speech was preceded by a parent telling of her child’s victimization at the hands of four boys, three times in a school yard in front of 60 to 100 other students. “The school refused to realize there is bullying,” she said. She eventually had to remove her child from the school. Lemmon is a member of the Bullying and Victimization Project â€" a pilot project established by the board a year ago in response to parents’ concerns about bully- ing in schools. “When we are talking about bullying, we are talking about an unequal situation,” he said. This isva problem that seems to affect more children in the younger grades than in the older grades, and according to Lemmon, one in every four Grade 4 students worries about bullying. ' Less than 10% of those surveyed hadn’t seen any bullying at school. (See ‘Half of kids . . .' page 17) “We are not talking about any old conflict between kids.” “The most important wony that came up with kids,” said Lemmon, “was bullies and bullying.” She said the school’s response was that ‘boys will be boys.’ Lemmon defined an unequal situation as one ‘ where there is a larger or stronger person, a num- ber of people against one person or someone who I is psychologically stronger. Bullying can happen without being hit, he said. A questionnaire issued by the project to both boys and girls in Grades 4 through 8 in eight elementary schools provided some eyeâ€"opening results. WHAT IS A SPREADSHEET ? - find out-a_tâ€" â€" - > ‘MADE‘D‘! 0F LEADING Oakville’ 5 Business School ' 338-6600 LOTUS 1-2-3 and MS/EXCEL ullying in the schoolyard III AKVILLE BEAVER Show Mom You Care! Visit Eaton Sheridan Place May 5th to 8th and find great Mother’s Day Gift Ideas at our Craft Fair throughout the Mall. While You’re at Eaton Sheridan-Place Have Your picture taken! Saturday, May::7th from 10am-5pm There’s no charge, it compliments any gift. (no purchase necessary) Tip of the iceberg? WEDNESDAY: MAY 4, 1994 PAGE 1 5 Mallfloms Monday-Friday 10-9 0 Samday 9230-6 0 Sunday noon- Erin Mills Parkway Just Nonh of mew Over 120 Shops Sewices including Food Emporium. Eaton's Kâ€"-Man H our years ago, Jack Peckitt watched a familiar Burlington high school become a grim crime scene after a student entered # the school with a gun and shot other students. “I was on the scene 20 minutes after it happened, and I saw the police wrap the yellow tapes around different areas of the school, through the hallways, the classrooms,” said Peckitt, an administrative assis- tant of school services for the Halton school board. “It drilled it home to me that we have got to start address- ing this problem now.” And although Peckitt stresses that violence in Halton schools is not “teenagers coming into schools with weapons,” he fears the kinds of violence being seen in schools today will translate into more violent acts of the kind that happened at Brock High School, in Burlington, in 1990. One of the most prevalent â€" and disturbing â€" kinds of violence that educators believe is only the tip of the iceberg is the systematic, relentless harassment by bullies; the kind of harassment that can inflict enormous social and psychological damage on its vicâ€" tims. S0 Come On Over to Our Place! All the speakers emphasized that any anti-violence programs are onâ€"going and longâ€"term. Vital to any success is the co-operation of the community in which the schools reside. Also, key is the realization by schools that violence is no longer just a “school issue” and cannot * and should not â€" be dealt with exclusively within the schools. “Anything to do with safety is a community issue,” W said Jacki Oxley, vice-president at Lord Elgin High ’ School, in Burlington. She noted that 12 years ago, the Los Angeles school board tried to keep the violence problems within the schools. “They said it was a school issue and didn’t go public. (See 'About 20% of kids . . .' page 17) EATON SHERIDAN g Recently at the Halton school board â€" sponsored Victory over Violence forum at T.A. Blakelock High School, Peckitt and two other speakers spoke of the need to curb the bullying in schools today to avoid any future violent acts. it 825-5 11;: way By DIANE HART Special to the Beaver