30,000 Students To Benefit From Innovative Partnership With Kids Help Phone

All of Ontario's students are benefiting from the progress the McGuinty government is making to improve school safety and help kids deal with issues such as bullying, said Education Minister Sandra Pupatello today.

"The McGuinty government is on the side of Ontario families who want safer schools," said Pupatello while visiting Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic School. "That's why we're committed to making sure that every publicly funded school has a bullying-prevention program and resources for better school safety."

To tackle bullying head on, the government has:
- Established a three-year, $3-million partnership with Kids Help Phone. This will double the 24-hour helpline's capacity to provide anonymous counselling to students in Ontario who are dealing with bullying issues. This is expected to benefit 30,000 more students each year.
- Launched a registry of bullying-prevention programs.
- Invested $7.83 million this year to help schools purchase, create or expand their bullying-prevention programs.

These initiatives will help address concerns that have been raised in research done by the government and other sources. The government's provincewide School Safety Audit of Ontario schools showed that 86 per cent of the respondents surveyed want access to an inventory of available, effective violence prevention programs.

"Bullying is a serious matter with wide-ranging ramifications - not just for schools, but for our entire society," said Safe Schools Action Team Chair and Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Government Services Liz Sandals. "That's why I'm pleased that we are taking decisive steps to make schools safer."

"Safe schools are a prerequisite for student achievement," said Don Valley East MPP David Caplan. "That's why I'm excited to see our government making progress to improve safety in every school in the province."

According to the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, roughly one in three students in Grades 7 to 12 report having been bullied at school, and just under a third report having bullied someone else.

"Kids Help Phone's partnership with the Ontario government enhances our ability to provide immediate, confidential support to students who are victims, perpetrators or witnesses to bullying behaviour," said Donna Hansplant, VP, Child and Family Services, Kids Help Phone. "Thanks to this partnership, we've been able to hire additional counsellors and provide increased training, helping more kids in Ontario."

"I love getting out and seeing the difference that programs like the one being offered at this school can make," said Pupatello. "It makes me even more confident that our comprehensive Safe Schools Strategy will help make Ontario's publicly funded schools truly great places to learn, grow and achieve."

Tackling the causes of bullying is just one part of the McGuinty government's student success strategy. Other initiatives include:
- Introduction of legislation to keep students learning until age 18
- Hired 4,300 additional teachers
- Delivered one million new textbooks and library resources.

The Ontario government launched its Safe School Strategy in December 2004 to ensure that students feel safe at school and on school grounds. The strategy includes funding for a bullying-prevention program in every school, school resources, training for teachers and principals, and a partnership with Kids Help Phone.

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www.resultsontario.gov.on.ca



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HOW THE ONTARIO GOVERNMENT IS MAKING SCHOOLS SAFER

To help ensure that students feel safe at schools and on school grounds, the Ontario government has introduced a comprehensive $26.2 million Safe Schools Strategy, which includes the Bullying Prevention Strategy. Some of the
components include:

$3 million Partnership with Kids Help Phone has been established over a three-year period. This will double the 24-hour helpline's capacity to provide anonymous counselling to students in Ontario who are dealing with bullying issues, and is expected to benefit 30,000 more students each year. Other
deliverables include the training of 125 counsellors on bullying issues, the hiring of more counsellors, and an increase in the awareness of the phone counselling services to Ontario's students.
To ensure there is an effective Bullying-Prevention Program in every publicly funded Ontario school, funding has been provided to boards in the amount of $1,500 per elementary school, $2,000 per secondary school and $1,500 per school authority. These funds, which total $7.83 million, are for the
purchase or development of bullying prevention programs, training and resources.
Bullying-prevention Training for Principals and Vice-Principals has been developed in partnership with Ontario's three provincial principal associations. The training will be offered across the province starting in May. Through the funding, about 7,450 principals and vice-principals will be
trained by 2007-08.
Bullying-prevention Training for Teachers is also being planned. It is expected that this training will be made available starting in the next school year. By 2007-08, we plan to train about 9,700 teachers.
School Climate Surveys are now available to collect student, staff and parent perspectives on school safety. Sample climate surveys can be found on the ministry's website.
A Safe Schools Implementation Co-ordinator has been appointed to help schools and boards share best practices. The co-ordinator is providing a centralized service for school boards through ongoing support, resources, and expertise on bullying prevention and intervention strategies.
School-based Safe Schools Teams are being established in Ontario schools to help determine and assess their local needs. Teams include students, a teacher, the school principal and parent representative. These school-based teams will address issues of school and student safety and bullying prevention
and promote a positive school community environment. Many schools already have teams in place that address schools and student safety, bullying prevention and promotion of a positive school community environment.
The ministry has developed a Registry of Bullying-Prevention Programs to assist schools in identifying which resources might best meet their needs. The registry is helping inform educators and school-based teams about which elements of an effective bullying prevention program are present in each program and resource, as well as their cost and age appropriateness.
A Safe Welcome Program is helping staff better monitor school visitors and limit points of access into their schools. More than 800 elementary schools across the province have received funding for security access devices where the main office is not within sight of the main entrance. The new devices will help office staff monitor who is entering schools and will complement other existing safety measures. Each eligible elementary school qualified for up to $4,000 for the purchase and installation of security access devices.
More than 3,400 School Safety Audits have been conducted across Ontario to help schools and communities assess both the physical safety and the social climate of their schools. The audits were conducted by a school team that included the principal, a teacher, parent, staff member and student.
A Safe Schools Action Team of leading experts was appointed in December 2004 to advise on the implementation of new measures to protect students. The team is being led by Liz Sandals, Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Government Services and includes Dr. Debra Pepler, Professor of psychology at York University and a Senior Associate Scientist at the Hospital for Sick Children; Stu Auty, President of the Canadian Safe School Network; Ray Hughes, National Education Coordinator, Fourth R Project, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Centre for Prevention Science; Dr. Inez Elliston, Director of Canadian Race Relations Foundation; and Lynn Ziraldo, Executive Director of the Learning Disabilities Association of Ontario - York Region, and Chair of the Minister's Advisory Council on Special Education.
Shaping Safer Schools: A Bullying Prevention Action Plan was released in November 2005. The report was written by the Safe Schools Action Team and based on nine consultations across Ontario with educators, police, parents, students, student advocates, youth and children's services workers, health
care professionals, existing bullying prevention groups and others. The report made several important recommendations on how to make Ontario's schools safer through comprehensive, provincewide bullying prevention programs.
A review of the Safe Schools Act is underway. More than 700 parents, educators, students and other community members provided their input on school safety and the Safe Schools Act through written submissions and through six public consultations in November and December of 2005. Consultations were held in Ottawa, London, Toronto (East and West), Sudbury and Thunder Bay.

Other related programs and initiatives:

Milton's Hotline is an on-air discussion held on the last Monday of every month on TVOKids. Milton Barnes and a counsellor from Kids Help Phone explore topics such as bullying, peer pressure, friendship and body image. Strategies
to deal with these issues are also discussed.
The Ministry of Children and Youth Services is helping young people faced with significant challenges achieve success by investing $28.5 million in the first three years of a Youth Opportunities Strategy. The strategy supports local initiatives for youth in at-risk communities, including a new school-
based pilot program to provide pro-active peer conflict mediation and role-modelling programs for students.
The ministry is also helping more children and youth with mental health issues succeed in school and in life by allocating $25 million in new funds in 2004-05, growing to $38 million in 2005-06 to strengthen services and supports across the province. School boards helped to identify and reach consensus on local needs.
Cybercops is an innovative, interactive software program that will help make Ontario school children safer online. The project is supported by the Ontario government, the Ontario Provincial Police, the Ontario Physical and Health Education Association and LiveWires Design Ltd. The first of two games,
Mirror Image, has been provided to approximately 3,100 schools for grade 7 and 8 students.