Schools in Alberta battle brutal student initiations

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ST. ALBERT, ALTA.–School officials hope assault charges against 14 Edmonton-area youths – accused of paddling younger kids with hockey sticks, homemade paddles and cricket bats – will raise awareness about violence that some teens may dismiss as merely a hazing ritual.

RCMP allege the accused, who are now all 16 and live in the bedroom community of St. Albert, paddled eight younger teens in May and June. The injuries on the teens, who were 14 and 15, ranged from some reddening of the buttocks, to bruises and bleeding on the buttocks and upper legs.

It's not believed the incidents occurred on school property.

Catholic and Protestant school boards in the upscale community of 60,000 say they've worked hard to prevent such violence, which some call froshing.

But part of their battle has been to try to shift the mindset of students who may still believe such violence is simply a fun right of passage for younger students going into junior high or high school.

School officials and police have stopped using froshing to describe this type of violence, and now describe it as assault, hoping that students and the public will take it more seriously.

"The notoriety that this latest incident has had will go far in sensitizing our students to the fact that really, it's assault. It's beyond froshing," Dave Caron, chairman of the city's Catholic school board, said in an interview yesterday.

"This is not in our minds a froshing or a hazing. It was using a paddle which in our minds is a weapon and we're treating it that way," said Barry Wowk, superintendent of St. Albert's Protestant schools.

Some schools have asked students to sign a no-froshing pledge card in the past, reaffirmed the zero-tolerance policy about such violence at assemblies throughout the year, and have tried to create a more welcoming environment, said Jerry Zimmer, superintendent of Greater St. Albert Catholic Schools.

"Instead of a frosh week, we have a welcoming week, buddying up Grade 10s with Grade 12s to help them acclimatize to the school," he said.

Punishment for being involved in such violence on school property can range from being told to undergo counselling to suspension and even expulsion in some cases, Zimmer said.

The Canadian Press