Lisa Scott
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (June 10/05) - Wendy Coulas always left a $10 bill in her Yellowknife kitchen, just in case her 13-year-old son Michael was scared to walk home when the bell at William McDonald school went off at 3:35.

The money was for an emergency taxi. That's how bad the incessant bullying Michael Coulas suffered from Grade 6-8 was.

William McDonald principal Mike MacDonald says his middle school has clashes between adolescents like any other school, but bullying is not a problem.

The Coulas family has since moved home to the east coast of Newfoundland. With their son safe from harm and ridicule, they figure the time is right to go public with his experience at school.

"He didn't feel safe in his school," his mother says.

Coulas says emails, phone calls and other attempts at contact with school administration went mostly unanswered.

"We and our son went through a living hell for three years and the administration of William McDonald school did nothing," says Coulas.

Not as fit as his classmates and undersocialized for his age, Michael didn't have many friends from Grade 6 onward.

"It takes him a while to feel comfortable with kids. I tried to keep him in that school because I hoped it would get better," she says.

Principal Mike MacDonald had ongoing meetings with the family, and maintains that his school does not have a bullying problem.

"Anytime Michael came to us with a concern, it was addressed," he says.

"There were a few instances were he was a target of bullying and there were other instances where he perceived it that way," says MacDonald.

"He's a great kid. He wasn't a kid that was in trouble a lot, but like most adolescent kids, he was trying to navigate his peer group," he says.

That navigation earned Michael a few bloody lips and plenty of bruises. There was even one afterschool trip to the emergency ward for a hurt arm, according to his mother.

Superintendent of Yk No. 1, Ken Dropko, replied to a written complaint by the family this week. It's one he's taking seriously. Copies of the Coulas letter and Dropko's response have gone to board trustees.

"The issue of bullying is very important to me and the board," he says.

"It's regretful they didn't feel they had an avenue to address their problem with the district," he says.

Programs across Yk No. 1 and Yellowknife Catholic schools, such as the student run Peacemakers group that mediates clashes on the playground, are in place at several elementary schools.

Starting in the fall, William McDonald staff and students will learn the Effective Behaviour Supports program. It's a proactive approach designed to decrease problem behaviour among students.

School staff and administration are currently teaching programs for boys and one specifically for female bullying as well. Instead of the detention for discipline problems, the school tries character education instead.

In the meantime, Dropko is finding out as much as he can about the Coulas complaint. He says administration likely could have taken more steps to assist the Coulas family.

"It takes an entire community to address bullying," he says.