The Toronto District School Board launched a hotline Monday for students to report dangerous or suspicious behaviour.
The hotline was one of the promises made by the board after the release of a damning report by a safe schools panel which found that a large number of violent incidents go unreported.
Students are being encouraged to use the hotline to anonymously report sex assaults, threats, suspicious activities, violence, weapons and bullying.
Board officials said the line will be checked three times daily, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The initiative was criticized by students who said they should have been asked for their advice.
"Other than slapping the phone lines together, instead of the Falconer report, maybe there should have been more student input," Student Trustee Gerald Mak told CTV Toronto.
Mak said more time and thought should have been put into the pilot project. He pointed out a poster advertising the hotline cost $5,000 to produce but has yet to be distributed to all the schools.
Another student told CTV Toronto there should be a live person on the phone rather than an automated message.
The TDSB said they hope to learn a lot from the project. They would not say how much the hotline will cost them.
With a report from CTV Toronto's Galit Solomon
