'Pack' girls in school bullying
The Press — 07 June 2008
Violent assaults among secondary school students appear to be increasing, and girls are adopting a similar "pack mentality" to boy bullies, says the Children's Commissioner. Cindy Kiro said yesterday that her office was seeing an escalating pattern of bullying, intimidation and peer harassment in schools, much of which went unreported.
A Marlborough Girls' College student needed hospital treatment on Tuesday after an assault in the school grounds, and on Thursday night a 14-year-old Waikato boy was beaten unconscious by a group of classmates at a Raglan Area School social. The assaults, which are being investigated by police, follow a series of recent violent bullying incidents at Hutt Valley High School. Parents of the Hutt Valley victims this month sought a nationwide inquiry by the Human Rights Commission into violence and human rights abuses in schools.
They say there has been a "systematic failure" of state agencies responsible for protecting children from bullying and playground violence. Kiro said it appeared young women were "acting in a way in which we only expected boys to act before, and increasingly with a pack mentality". She said bullying had become a persistent problem that young people rated as one of their top concerns.
As many as 75 per cent of schoolchildren reported incidents of bullying at school, although only about 10% of cases were categorised as serious bullying. After the Blenheim incident, three 15-year-old Marlborough Girls' College students were charged with assault with intent to injure. They have been suspended from the school.
The victim needed hospital treatment but was back in class yesterday. Principal Karen Stewart would not comment on reports that the alleged attackers were arrested for their alleged involvement in a fight at the school in August last year.
"This is viewed very seriously by us and is going through the appropriate procedures," she said. "I wouldn't call it an assault unless I did think it was a shocking incident." Constable Michelle Stagg, of the Blenheim police, said police were contacted by the victim's mother. Kiro said that if the incident "happened in school hours and on the school grounds, there is no doubt the police should have been called". Marlborough Girls' College parents spoken to by The Press supported the school and said they felt it was doing its utmost to provide a safe environment. Stewart said the school, with a roll of more than 1000 students, had a strong stance on bullying.
"We work very hard on making sure that things like name-calling, bullying, going right through to violence are not acceptable here," she said. In the Raglan incident, Myles Dellar, 14, said he was approached by a boy at a school social who said, "I heard you've been talking stuff about me". "Next thing, he grabbed my T-shirt and ripped it off. There was blood from my nose, my arms were being held back and then his fist was in my face. I remember going to the ground and someone kicking me," Myles said.
"When I woke up I was standing outside. Next thing I remember was two St John Ambulance people helping me and then being in the ambulance." Myles' father, Tui Dellar, said he wanted the attackers expelled. "If the police want to charge them, that would suit me."
— Additional reporting Waikato Times