Should the school district have a special policy to protect overweight kids from bullying? That's the question raised by a local man who ran for school board in the last election.
Gordon World from Parents' Voice presented on the subject at the Jan. 10 school board meeting. World based his arguments on a Yale University study that suggested obesity was the number 1 reason kids are bullied in school.
"Overweight kids, the largest identifiable bullied group, certainly deserve to be protected and are currently not explicitly protected against bullying in any School District 41 policies," he said. "By the same token, all kids should and need to be protected equally."
World helped start Parents' Voice, an ad hoc group that formed in opposition to policy 5.45, the school district's attempt to protect students and staff from homophobic bullying.
"The logic is that 5.45 only protects, or is intended to protect, a certain group, and according to this study, bullying based on sexual orientation is not the most pervasive - it is bullying of overweight youth. Why are we tripping over ourselves to protect one group at the expense of protecting other groups?" World said.
The study he cited came was published in the Journal of School Health in 2011. Researchers surveyed more than 1,500 students in two American high schools on their perceptions of bullying.
Forty-one per cent of the students identified being overweight as the top reason peers were bullied, followed by sexual orientation (at 38 per cent) and intelligence and level of ability at 10 per cent. The top three categories surpassed bullying based on race, physical ability, religion and low-income status.
School board chair Larry Hayes said World had some good points and that the matter was referred to staff, who will look into the issue and report back to trustees, hopefully with more of a local perspective.
"We're certainly willing to look at anything that's going to make our schools safer for kids, what-ever the potential issue is," Hayes said. "We certainly, as a board, don't want to be dismissive of any of these types of situations that are brought to us."
If World's purpose is to protect children, that is a very noble cause, Hayes added.
"But if the purpose is to show the board what we did with policy 5.45 was frivolous and to put staff and the board on a number of wild goose chases, then I certainly have another opinion on that. I'm not saying that's being done, but those out in the general public may come to that conclusion," Hayes said.
To read World's presentation or the study, go to Jennifer Moreau's blog, at www.burnabynow.com.
