Saturday marks a month since 15-year-old Amanda Todd committed suicide and her video plea for help made headlines around the world.
Officials with the Coquitlam and Maple Ridge school districts, where Amanda was a student, say a lot of work has been done since her death.
They’ve reviewed their programs and response plans, held events on teen suicide and social media responsibility, and met with Mayors to discuss how the community can help stop bullying.
“It’s brought everyone to a point now where people now appreciate that they need to keep working at this. We need to keep finding more and more effective programs that will be preventative by nature.
Cheryl Quinton in Coquitlam adds what’s been missing is more mental health supports, as more teens in all districts are having problems.
Meanwhile, the Province continues with its ‘erase’ bullying strategy, including an website to report problems anonymously, and will hold a summit on bullying next week.
But while the districts say they are working hard, have kids at Amanda’s former schools noticed any difference?
“Not really, just for a short period of time.”
“It was, like, very hyped after it happened. But now I guess people forgot about it.”
“The same teachers have always had their opinion and said ‘don’t do that, don’t do this,’ but no matter what, it’s going to happen.”
One girl at Westview Secondary in maple ridge even said some boys had held a party to ‘celebrate’ Amanda’s death.
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