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Pink Day In Canada
As we have all heard, and may or may not believe, ordinary people make extraordinary things happen. This would be true of PINK DAY in Canada. In fact, the “show your PINK” went much further than just Canada, and we Canadians are proud the idea originated in our fair country. Here’s the story, if you have not already heard it.
Last September, at a high school ion Nova Scotia, a young grade 9 boy was targeted and teased because he wore a pink shirt. He was charged with being gay, and in adolescent years, finding one’s own sexuality, and comfort within that knowledge, would be the biggest challenge, particularly if one finds him or her self attracted to the same sex.
Anyway, a couple of grade 12 boys got wind of this targeting. The story suggests that these boys had also been targeted in their earlier years and was bullied regularly. So these two boys went to their local dollar store, and bought every single pink T shirt that the store carried. The next day, 50 kids were standing in the foyer of their school wearing there pink shirts. Stating a phrase that is becoming known as their slogan “Enough is Enough”, these students stood in solidarity to say NO to bullying, the buck stops here, and everyone is entitled to wear what they want. Surprisingly, even though our school chose NOT to do the “PINK” day as we hadn’t discussed the situation deeply enough with our students, over 160 students and over 20 staff members showed up in PINK and many students complained that they didn’t know anything about it. I promised that next year we would do a much bigger thing about this.
Hence, legend is born…. Or at least the POTENTIAL for a legend is born.
Yes, local, regional and provincial governments endorsed this “wear pink” day, however it seems that this is “a one time only”, a “shot in the dark” a “flash in the pan”. And for those of us who know about bullying, we know it is not a one shot deal, a flash in the pan, and it cannot be swept under the mat with a one time endorsement. We need to have a day where those of us who want to can say “enough is enough” and on that day, we need to recognize our year-long efforts to build safer school cultures and communities.
So how about it? Do you want to join together to get February 27th. (or any other day) declared “wear pink” day? If you do, email me and we will make this happen. Please remember that ordinary people make extraordinary things happen. We can do this together. In the meantime, here is the update on my school’s progress in our implementation on Take Action Against Bullying.
Teachers have completed the 8-12 lesson unit. The recommendation suggests that now is the time to re-do the survey. But teachers are tired. It is almost Spring Break. Report cards are due in soon. The re-do of the survey can wait. In the meantime, this is what I have learned. The unit, as it stands, needs more activities for classes to use. I will add to that in the coming weeks. As well, NOW is the time we need to build on the positive spin offs that are apparent from this program. A group of us will meet regularly to talk about our results and what we will do with them.
We have changed our name from the Anti Bullying committee to the Building Positive School Culture and Climate Committee, which suggests a much more proactive approach. 179 students told us that they feel unsafe in out stairwells, 130 kids told us they felt unsafe in our cafeteria. Our plan is to teach the behaviors that we want, and reward them when we see them. Accentuate the positive, as the song used to say. This is an EBS (Effective Behavior Support) model and we think it is the right way to go. Remember, our kids are fantastic. They have fallen into bad habits. Let’s see if “catching them being good” works. Oh, and by the way, we will recognize this by providing students a sheet that says “We Caughtcha doing just what we want”, pulling 10 of those sheets every two weeks, and buying the kids named on those sheets a pizza lunch. I’ve done it before and I am amazed at how much pizza can be consumed!!!!
I will keep you posted. Stay tuned!!
This month’s special offer: “Take Action Against Bullying”. Receive 10% off any workshop booked this month. Contact Sandra for details at info@bullybeware.com
