ATHABASCA - “Zero tolerance is zero tolerance! We should not be afraid to walk the halls alone!”
Those were two of several chants heard coming from a couple dozen hoarse student voices gathered just adjacent to Edwin Parr Composite School in Athabasca Sept. 28, saying their complaints regarding serious allegations have been ignored and that the repercussions when students are caught violating the code of conduct are inconsistent, along with other grievances of bullying and open racism.
Several parents stood in the background as about 25 EPC students chanted and cheered and waved their signs for all to see from late in the morning until school was out.
According to three of the organizers of the protest, Anita, Gr. 11, Porsha, Gr. 10, and Carly, Gr. 9, they were suspended for five days for sticking up for another girl who was allegedly assaulted by a male student, who has not been suspended, a move the girls see to be in direct opposition to the school’s zero tolerance policy. The Advocate agreed not to use the students’ last names.
This, the students say, is a pattern they’ve recognized when reporting allegations as serious as sexual assault to administration at the school.
“And we’re getting sick and tired of it, so we’re trying to do something here to prove a point,” said Carly.
“We’re going to keep going until more and more parents hear it and more and more are aware of it,” said Anita, adding they were planning another protest at a more public and central location in town on Tuesday to get their concerns heard.
Other students from the school who were not involved in the protest and asked not to be identified at all, told the Advocate a group of female students was suspended after an alleged “attack” on the male student involved in the initial incident. However, that accusation is unconfirmed by the school and school division. The same students also said a parent was removed from the school the previous day after she “flipped out” in relation to the allegations.
While Aspen View Public Schools communications coordinator Ross Hunter said the school division can’t comment on specific people or incidents, he said there are documented procedures in place for when allegations arise.
“Allegations of misconduct are referred to school administration,” said Hunter in a Sept. 29 e-mail. “If the allegation is deemed to be more serious in nature, administration will contact law enforcement. In some instances, complainants’ first contact may be with law enforcement, in which case school administration cooperates fully with their investigation.”
Supt. Neil O’Shea reiterated the division’s priority of keeping students and staff safe.
“The initial incident at EPC was investigated by school administration in collaboration with the RCMP and was dealt with appropriately. Student and staff safety remains paramount in all Aspen View Public Schools,” he said in an e-mail Sept. 30.
The halls in most schools nowadays are wired with surveillance cameras, so alleged criminal and other borderline bad behaviour can be difficult to conceal, but just who is allowed to view that surveillance footage is definitive.
“Aspen View has an Administrative Procedure (181) regarding the use of video surveillance within schools. In short, schools’ use of video surveillance is for administrative and legal purposes, and the sharing or viewing of video footage is extremely limited by freedom of information/protection of privacy legislation and safety concerns,” said Hunter, who also noted the Education Act (Sec. 31) outlines student responsibilities and a board’s responsibility to establish a student code of conduct (Sec. 31.2), as well as the school’s ability to suspend students for violating that code (Sec. 36).
The Advocate is only aware of one recent school-related event that required a court appearance by an EPC student in 2022 after a female student was charged with assaulting another female student. Under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, the offender cannot be named, but was ordered to keep the peace among several other standard conditions as part of a youth sentence.
Video footage of that incident, taken by a student, shows one girl essentially throwing around another like a rag doll and was posted and widely viewed on social media. The victim of that assault, said Porsha, was herself.
“This kind of stuff has been going on for years,” she added.
Anita also said she tried to advertise the protest with signs posted around the school, but alleges they were removed by staff. Near the end of the protest a group of 10 or more students exiting the main entrance of the school were ushered back inside by a staff member. School and division staff were also observed chatting with parents waiting to pick up their kids just metres away from the protest.
Both Porsha and Anita said they have no intentions of ever going back to EPC and are currently looking into Aspen View’s Centre for Alternative and Virtual Education (CAVE) to complete their studies.
Hunter said there are no specific Aspen View policies regarding student protests.
“The ability to peacefully protest is a democratic right,” he said in the e-mail. “Our understanding is that students were permitted to protest as long as it was safe, respectful and not disruptive to school operations.”
RCMP also paid a short visit to the school during the protest, said the students.
Hunter said there wasn’t any information on the volume of inquiries from parents/guardians regarding the protest, or how they were being addressed, if they were received.
