News

Proposed legislation forcing teachers to report serious incidents to school principals is long overdue and should include ways to deal with the causes of violence, opposition critics said Thursday.

Progressive Conservative Elizabeth Witmer said children who are bullied or harassed at school have spent too many years fending for themselves.

"It is time, it is overdue, that this government demonstrate leadership, and take every possible step to protect our students," Witmer said.

"This a dark part of our education system that we need to continue to address."

While she welcomed the step, Witmer told the legislature she's disappointed the proposed changes will only take effect next February — not at the start of the school year in September.

NDP education critic Rosario Marchese said his party will support the bill, but wants it to also address the causes of violence.

"Mandatory reporting doesn't deal with the issues that we should be talking about," like mental illness and substance abuse, Marchese said.

"Some of these kids are sexually abused and some of these kids bring the violence into the school."

The proposed bill will clarify the role of all school staff and enhance guidelines about reporting incidents of homophobia, sexual harassment and inappropriate sexual behaviour.

The new rules mean teachers would have to report to a principal any incidents of violence that may result in suspension or expulsion, and the principal would have to report it to parents.

"Principals cannot act on these behaviours if they do now know they are happening," Education Minister Kathleen Wynne said in introducing the legislation.

"Students should feel comfortable reporting incidents to staff, knowing that they will be followed up on."

If passed, Ontario would be the first province in Canada with legislation of this kind, Wynne said.

The legislation follows a report calling for action to prevent violence and harassment among students and to make it easier for schools to report problems.

An earlier report by lawyer Julian Falconer, who led a school safety panel convened after 15-year-old Jordan Manners was fatally shot in his Toronto school in May 2007, uncovered an alarming number of unreported incidents of violence and sexual harassment at Toronto schools.

That report concluded many of the more than 250,000 students at Toronto public schools contend daily with a "culture of fear" that pervades many of the city's secondary-school institutions.