Lang and LIt Journalism Project_ Wafaa and Emilia

Recent studies show that violence, both physical and emotional, is increasing in Citadel High School. Many incidents of violence go unaddressed by the school administration, leaving students and their families concerned. Students have varying opinions on the available support systems, with some finding them helpful and others feeling they have to handle violence on their own. Students have mixed views on how the school handles bomb threats, with some feeling they are not taken seriously. While most students feel generally safe at school, there are concerns about washroom safety and verbal violence. The school needs to address these concerns and improve safety measures. The rise in school violence incidents and lack of action from administrators is a growing problem. Anti-bullying initiatives are not having a lasting effect. The effects of school violence and bullying are evident across Nova Scotia's schools. In the hallways of Citadel High School lies some sort of violence. For many students, schools should be a place of safety for learning and growth, but recent studies are now starting to show that threats from physical and emotional violence are growing every day. Our investigative journalism project aims to understand the impact and views Citadel High School students and teachers alike have towards school violence. Our goal is ultimately to answer the question how students at Citadel High School are really feeling about physical and emotional violence that happens here, if any at all. Recent reports and personal accounts in general in Nova Scotia express concerns. A recent report released that school violence incidents have increased by 60% province-wide over the past seven years with the Halifax Regional Centre for Education experiencing a significant share in these incidents. Despite these numbers, many violent incidents remain inadequately addressed by school administration. Over 18% or 26,000 people have reported violent incidents over the last seven years, had no record of any action taken by school administration, leaving students and their families in a state of concern and teachers also disheartened. In a news report two weeks ago, one student spoke out about the daily dread of school bullies in the school bathrooms, while another re-encountered the emotional toll of constant online harassment. Parents also voiced their opinions, expressing the frustration of the current educational system that lacks the resources and strategies necessary to protect their children and make it a safe learning environment. To introduce our methodology for the interviews, we asked five open-ended questions to nine Citadel students, ranging from grade 10 to 12. The five questions included, do you feel safe in school, do you feel comfortable using the bathrooms at school, what resources or support systems did you find helpful at school, what measures does the school take to address bomb threats and ensure student safety, and have you or someone you know been a victim of any type of harassment at school? For the first part of presenting the testimonies we gathered at Citadel High School, we focused on the support systems and how students perceive them. We aimed to understand if students had ever used these systems and whether they found them effective. When experiencing school violence, what are students doing? Responses varied widely. Some students recognized the Youth Health Center as a valid and useful support system for handling school violence. The Youth Health Center is a really good place to go if you're struggling with something like that. They might go to the resource center in the Youth Health Center. I'm aware that they're present, it's just not what's going to hurt me and I don't think there's any way of changing that, so I'm comfortable with what's available. Conversely, other students felt that they had to handle school violence on their own, citing a lack of effective resources. None. None. I just like have beef with people now. Yeah. It's kind of something you have to figure out on your own. Yeah. Yeah. I mean there's not much you can do about that, there's no way to regulate it, so I don't entirely blame anyone for not being able to follow up on it. There's just nothing you can do. Yeah, that's not related to school violence. These perspectives also divide in how students view available support at Citadel High School. The majority feel it's a personal matter to manage with the inadequate resources from the school. However, some do find the Youth Health Center useful, though it's viewed less common. In the second part of our testimonies, we highlighted student opinions on the recent bomb threats. We aimed to understand how students felt the school system handled these incidents, and whether it ensured safety. Students' reflections ranged from dismissive to concerned. Kind of crazy, but I'm not going to lie, because we always get sent out for about an hour after, and no one's actually going to do anything. It's like a nice break, but it's a joke. But if there was a real bomb threat, they wouldn't write it on the school bathroom wall. They would just bomb the school. No one would really give a warning for that? I doubt it. I don't think they're real. Kids are stupid. It's one of those things that if it's always not true, then it's kind of like a toy who cried wolf. People might be like, it's real. People might not believe it. I guess if they send us that email saying, like, an abundance of safety, but maybe just like step back and realize that it's a trend. If someone's just going to bomb the school, making us go outside for 45 minutes, it's not really going to stop anything. This has happened at so many different schools. At a certain point, you kind of have to accept that it's not. The bomb isn't going to go off just because you find a threat. It's going to go off whenever it goes off. So sending us back in 45 minutes later doesn't make sense if that's their approach. And it also realistically doesn't take 45 minutes to search the school for a bomb. Yeah. It's stupid. Some students felt the school and HRCE handled the situation well, taking proper precautions. I think that the email sent home to parents really, like, helped out with kind of resolving them. They do a good job sending emails home. Coming into the school really helped kind of, like, warn kids on, like, what could happen. That, like, the school took the proper precautions. Despite some seeing the threats as unserious, others felt discomfort and fear. Um, yeah, I feel pretty comfortable using the school washroom. There have been, like, a couple bomb threats in there. Yeah, definitely. It's just been uncomfortable. But, yeah. You know, coming from a country that has bombing sort of stuff, like, you know, they might be really terrified by that. The testimony showed a divide in perceptions of bomb threats around several high school students. While some students dismissed the threats as a joke, others acknowledged the fear and discomfort these threats cause. The school's response is also seen in a mixed view, with some praising the communication and precautionary measures, while others criticized the speed and perceived seriousness of the response. This shows us that we have the need for more effective communication and actions from the school to address students' concerns comprehensively. Lastly, we explored whether students feel safe at Citadel High School on a daily basis. Most students reported feeling generally safe. Do you feel safe at school? Yes. I think Citadel's, like, a pretty safe environment for them, I'm sorry. So, do you guys feel safe at school? Yes, usually. Yeah. Yeah? Do you feel safe at school? I do feel safe at school. I mean, do you feel safe at school? I mean, not 100% of the time. There's always, I mean, yeah. Yeah? Yeah. Definitely. Do you feel comfortable using the school washrooms at all? No. I've been called a twink in a bag since I've walked in the bathroom before. Oh, no. It's pretty, pretty normal. But, they had polarly expressed that with mostly feeling safe at school meant days where they didn't. No, because none of the doors work. Yeah. And there's really big cracks in the doors. A few weeks ago, I was walking down the hall and a group of guys started yelling at me, you know, because you don't use eggs. So, like, it's definitely around. But, it was certainly around. Yeah. I've known, yeah, like, a few people that were in, you know, some fights and stuff. In summary, while most students feel generally safe at Citadel, there are notable concerns, especially regarding washroom safety and incidents of verbal violence. These concerns show areas where the school could improve its safety measures and support systems. So, clearly, some of the students here at Citadel have different experiences when it comes to bullying and feeling safe here at school. This was shown based on the answers that were given when being asked the questions. Seeing the concerning amount of school violence in Nova Scotia, it's clear that things need to be addressed. Experiences shared by students, parents, teachers, and educators are showing signs of fear, trauma, and neglect, which are rising within the school environment. The rise in school violence incidents against students, added with the lack of action taken by school administrators, the strategies to ensure the safety and well-being of those within the HRCE is only going to get worse. The lack of strategies to address violence in schools, with a limited to no training for educators in violence management, isn't going to make this problem go away. Students experiencing bullying, physical assaults, and social media-driven attacks show the effect of violence in schools all across Nova Scotia. It's clear that anti-bullying initiatives such as Pink Day and other things are not making a long-lasting effect in schools as much as they thought they would. As mentioned in one of the articles, one parent said, quote, there is Pink Day. It's one day you can all wear a pink shirt today, and then the rest of the year you can bully each other, apparently, unquote. In conclusion, information and stories from the articles and interviews of students and teachers shows how the effects of school violence and bullying have affected schools all across Nova Scotia, and is telling us all that we need to know about the schooling system.