Schools try shorter lunch breaks to reduce bullying

Students at 11 area Catholic schools will have a slightly shorter day in school this fall.

The schools are part of a Huron-Superior Catholic District School Board pilot program board aimed at reducing bullying.

Among other things, the program will cut 15 minutes off lunch periods, with the school day shortened accordingly.

"A lot of the principals and teachers we spoke with said that incidents of bullying tended to happen at the end of lunch period," Director of Education John Stadnyk told school trustees at a meeting last night.

School days will begin five minutes later and end ten minutes earlier at six Sault Ste. Marie and five district schools come this September, Stadnyk said.

Holy Family, St. Hubert, Our Lady of Lourdes, St. Bernadette, St. Mark and St. Paul are the City schools participating in the pilot program this year.

From the distric,t the participating schools are Sacred Heart in Espanola, St. Mary's in Blind River, and St. Joseph in Wawa, as well as Our Lady of Fatima and Our Lady of Lourdes in Elliot Lake.

Stadnyk said the shorter school day is one prong in a multi-pronged approach to reducing bullying in Huron-Superior schools.

"We are combining it with several other programs that are already in use in different schools," he said.

The board is also expecting to add more programs because of a recent announcement of special provincial funding to fight bullying in Ontario schools.

Stadnyk said that principals and teachers in area Catholic schools will be extra vigilant in documenting incidents of bullying over the next school year, so the board can decide whether an expanded program will be warranted in the 2008/2009 school year.