On July 25, the BC Human Rights Code was amended to include explicit protection based on gender identity.
It is a requirement of the School Act to reflect changes in the provincial human rights code and, according to School District 47 superintendent Jay Yule, the region’s school conduct codes already met the new gender identity prohibition. The only change was to underline the provision for emphasis in the district code.
According to Yule, who spoke about the issue at a board of trustees meeting on Tuesday, September 20, the Ministry of Education has given school districts until December to change codes of conduct to include gender identity.
School District 47’s new district code now reads: “Students shall not discriminate against others on the basis of race, colour, ancestry, place of origin, religion, marital status, family status, physical or mental disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or age of that person.”
The reference to the prohibited grounds of discrimination also states: “nor shall a student publish or display anything that would indicate an intention to discriminate against another, or expose them to contempt or ridicule, on the basis of any such grounds.”
The board has instructed each school in the region to also include clauses that prohibit “bullying, cyberbullying, harassment, intimidation, threatening or violent behaviours.” Cyberbullying was not previously distinguished in the code.
“The important part for us is that principals really take some time to ensure parents, students, staff and the public are aware of the changes in our code of conduct and the expectations at school,” said Yule.
According to Brooks Secondary School principal Jamie Burt, the code of conduct is used daily to help staff provide and maintain a safe, caring and orderly environment for students to learn.
“We do have to take disciplinary action from time to time as a result of students violating the code of conduct in one form or another,” said Burt.
Roughly 800 students are enrolled at Brooks and Burt said they all develop intellectually, socially and emotionally at various rates and the code recognizes the exceptions the school has for its students.
“Whenever assigning consequences we do our best to be thoughtful, consistent and fair,” he said. “We also try and teach acceptable social behaviour whenever possible and not solely punitive.”
On the issue of bullying and cyberbullying, Burt said Brooks has seen an increase in the number of cyber incidents.
“That being said, I believe we have become a lot more proactive in working with our students and their parents around the issues of cyberbullying,” said Burt. “Over the past two years students and parents are a lot more equipped to know the steps to take if they have been involved in a cyber incident.”
Normally, the school district distributes codes of conduct to parents, students and staff early in the school year, but Yule said he was asking the board to change the code now rather than halfway through the school year.
“It’s really important to get it up right away,” said Yule.
At every board meeting, Yule reports on student suspensions as result of code violations. Discipline attached to suspensions ranges from 10 days to indefinite suspension for non-violent or violent acts, and 20 days for drug and alcohol offences.
Violent incidents include verbal, which are also considered violent if threatening.
In June, there were 50 violent and non-violent episodes in the school district.
