The Chair of the Vancouver School Board supports the goal of the Provincial anti-bullying campaign but not the unexpected cost.
Patti Bacchus says to cover-off teachers taking the Erase Bullying training, it will cost the District between 25 to 30 thousand dollars.
Bacchus says the bill was not budgeted for this year, "So, we will have to take a look at the budget and if we are going to be footing the bill for the cost of this program, my fear is it will come at the cost of the anti-bullying work we are already doing. And we will have to look at where we can take away from a budget that has been picked over and scraped at for too many years."
She says the Provincial program also doesn't mesh well with the Districts own initiatives targeting bullying, homophobia, and racism.