By Sarah Junkin
The Eagle
By all accounts it’s been a difficult week for redheaded students.
After a Facebook group deemed Nov. 20 to be “Kick a Ginger Day,” encouraging students to kick their redheaded peers, school officials across the country had to deal with complaints about red-haired children being bullied. In some cases criminal charges have been laid, including in Calgary.
The Facebook group was likely inspired by South Park, a satirical, animated television show that aired an episode dealing with prejudice, focusing on one character’s attitude toward redheads. Ironically, Nov. 20 fell right in the middle of National Bullying Awareness Week.
Both Cochrane High School (CHS) and Bow Valley High School officials say they received complaints about redhead bullying, and CHS principal Chris Lees admitted it caught him off guard.
“Never, never, never have I experienced anything like this before,” he said. “What next? Where does it stop?”
Lees explained that though he received no complaints on Nov. 20, he has since learned of some instances of bullying and after investigating found that six male students had participated in kicking red-haired students to varying degrees.
“It ranged from tapping and a little kick to kicking hard enough that someone was bruised,” he said, adding the students are being dealt with in the same way all bullying is dealt with in his school. There was one suspension.
But Lees said he has also tried to seize on the opportunity as a learning experience.
“I spoke to about 10 kids, all red-heads and some said it was no big deal,” he said. “But when you start to explain about discrimination, then they start to see it in a new light.
“Blonde jokes, Newfie, Polish, it goes on and on, and when you operate in that kind of environment, where does it end?”
But Angela Spanier, director of communications for Rocky View Schools, said parents have to take some responsibility.
“What we want to get out there is our kids don’t have access to Facebook in our schools, so parents need to monitor what their kids are doing just like we do,” she said.
Spanier added the division received complaints about redhead bullying though she doesn’t have precise numbers yet.
“All staff were advised (about Kick a Ginger Day) and were asked to monitor and watch out for any problems,” she said, adding the usual disciplinary policy will be followed in every case.
But Bow Valley principal Susan Poole said she, like many other officials, was taken by surprise.
“For this to happen all across the country — it speaks to the power of Facebook,” she said.
But Poole does not necessarily condemn the site itself, which she says can be powerful in a positive way. In fact, her school is using Facebook to publicize its wildly successful annual alumni basketball game on Dec. 18.
“But it’s been a learning experience for students and staff as well,” she said. “Everyone was just so taken aback.
“But having the kind of kids that we do, when we explained the seriousness of it they immediately understood and the kids were saying, ‘We gotta do Hug a Ginger Day!’” she said.
And Poole said that in conversations with parents this week she’s realized more than ever the need to work together.
“We’ve got to do this as a team.”
Bill Belsey, a Rocky View teacher who is also president and founder of the award-winning site www.bullying.org, said he agrees with Spanier about parents taking responsibility.
“She’s right on the money,” he said. “Most of cyber-bullying takes place after school.”
Belsey added the problem is greater than most realize.
“I’ve been predicting for years that governments and other organizations are pretty soon going to always be in reactive mode,” he said. “It’s beyond the capacity of anyone to contain.”
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