IDEA member questions students’ expulsion

A member of the Iqaluit District Education Authority told the board this week she had second thoughts about expelling the two Grade 9 students who admitted to calling in a false bomb threat at Inuksuk High School last month.

Police arrested the two teen boys at the high school on Jan. 20. Their case has been referred to the city’s restorative justice committee.

But after the IDEA voted on Jan. 26 to expel the boys, Kathy Smith said she was approached by a parent who asked why the IDEA would take such serious action against them “for making one stupid phone call,” while taking no little or action against school yard bullies.

“As a parent, whose safety are you protecting,” Smith said the parent asked her. “If the safety of our students is our priority, then we have to make the safety of our students a priority.”

But students aren’t necessarily more safe with the two boys out of the classroom.

“I have to think, who would I rather have in class with my kid – the one who made a stupid phone call or the one who’s going to repeatedly beat him up?” she said.

Smith added that she believes the IDEA made the right decision in expelling the two boys, but said her fellow members should also consider the concerns of parents whose children are constantly bullied in school.