The mother of a 14-year-old student fatally stabbed outside his Hamilton school hopes a proposed community panel on bullying is “not a band aid solution.”
Wearing a button with a photo of her son, Devan Selvey, and the words “I stand against bullying” written in purple lettering, Shari-Ann Sullivan Selvey told CTV News Toronto that the current zero tolerance bullying policy at schools is not enough.
“Zero tolerance, to me, used to mean that the schools were safe. Zero tolerance means someone is going to step in and stop it from happening, but that isn’t the case. It doesn’t mean anything,” she said. “It’s just there. It’s just putting a label on something that nobody is following through with.”
On Monday night, the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board recommended the creation of a community panel to address bullying prevention, intervention and reporting. Shari-Ann Sullivan Selvey said that she hopes the panel will discuss tougher consequences when dealing with incidents of bullying.
“Believe the child when the child is telling you something is wrong and dealing with the children that are doing it,” she said. “Make the consequences a little tougher for them. I don’t know how you could possibly do that, but that’s what needs to be done. If there are no consequences, then there is no fear. And obviously no fear, they do what they want.”
She also said that neither the school nor the school board has reached out to her, other than to send her a condolence card, since her son’s death. She has not been asked to speak at the meeting Monday night—adding that if she was contacted, she is not sure how she would handle it.
Earlier this month, emergency crews were called to Sir Winston Churchill Secondary School, located near Parkdale Avenue South and Main Street East, for reports of a violent incident. When they arrived at the school, they found Devan Selvey suffering from multiple stab wounds.
The teen was transported to the hospital, but succumbed to his injuries a short while later.
Two suspects, an 18-year-old male and a 14-year-old male, both from Hamilton, were taken into police custody in connection with the incident. They have each been charged with first-degree murder.
‘Listen to your children and then fight like hell’
Shari-Ann Sullivan Selvey said that ever since her son started Grade 9 in September, he had been the victim of bullying. She said he missed many of his classes and would sometimes call her to come pick him up.
The director of the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board has previously acknowledged that incidents of bullying were reported to the administration.
“How many times do I have to go sit in the principal’s office or go down to a police station?” Shari-Ann Sullivan Selvey said on Monday ahead of the school board meeting. “The sign out front says ‘we all belong’ and they have zero tolerance, then why did I have to go there numerous times in one month to try and rectify this before it got to this point?”
Shari-Ann Sullivan Selvey said that she has heard “a lot of heartbreaking stories” since her son’s death. While she said a better support system is needed in schools, she also had a more personal piece of advice for parents whose children may be having difficulties at school.
“Fight like hell and if that doesn’t work, move your child to a different school. Even if you have to relocate to a different city. Do anything you possibly can to keep your children safe because you don’t know if it will go to the extreme it got to at Devan.”
Board of trustees say bullying is ‘complex’
The chair of the HWDSB committed on Monday to implementing any recommendations made by the independent panel, but also made it clear that bullying was a broader, community issue rather than one that should be dealt with at the school level alone.
“We are doing this because we need to do better. Bullying is complicated and is extremely serious and is rampant in our society. From social media to our places of work, the concept itself is often portrayed as simple, but as educators we know the solution is far more complex,” Alex Johnstone said. “We know it often starts in our schools and we need to do more to protect and support our children. That is what the panel will be tackling in the coming months.”
Manny Figueiredo, the director of the board, went on to say that building positive relationships and intervening in bullying earlier is the “key to having bullying be eradicated.”
Neither the chair nor the director of the board would comment on why the Selvey family had not been contacted regarding the panel or the meeting Monday, saying only that the board is working with police as they conduct their criminal investigation.
“Our plan is in response to the broader community,” Figueiredo said of the panel.
He also said that once the police investigation is complete, the school board will be conducting their own independent investigation into the events that occurred on Oct. 7.
It is not known who would conduct that independent review.
The “Safe Schools: Bullying Prevention and Intervention Review Panel” is expected to deliver its report in May 2020.
