Ontario’s public school principals don’t want to be forced to report altercations between students, saying it would be “time consuming, inappropriate and costly.”
“While reports to the police should be made” in cases of physical assault where a student requires medical attention, among other situations, “…involving the police in school life is a decision best left to educators who know students the best,” says yesterday’s letter to the education minister from Lisa Vincent, president of the Ontario Principals’ Council.
MPP Frank Klees (Newmarket-Aurora) says the province has been pressing the provincial government to close the loophole in the Child and Family Services Act, which mandates reporting of adult-on-student crime or suspicion of it, but not student-on-student.
The move comes after a Grade 1 boy in a York Region Catholic school was allegedly whipped by two Grade 8 boys in a school washroom.
The school’s principal did not report the incident to police. The parents called police after finding out about the incident , and two youths have since been charged.
