Approximately 20 students from Rutland Senior Secondary in Kelowna missed the beginning of class on Wednesday morning, choosing instead to stage a protest in front of the school.
The students are protesting against what they call a weak response to allegations of sexual assault.
“We’d like to see some consequences to some students in the school who have either like hurt other students physically or verbally. We’d like to see change in that,” said Grade 12 student Leah Johnson.
“There’s, like, been multiple students coming forward about it, just because there’s no evidence. But there are six girls coming forward about an assault; it should kind of make sense.”
The protest continued during the lunch hour, almost doubling in size.
Lori Roberts’ granddaughter took part in the protest. Roberts showed up to show her support.
“They got to start believing some of these girls. They got to start believing some of the accusations that are going on,” Roberts said.
“These kids need help, they need to be heard.”
Wednesday’s demonstration marked the latest one in a series of protests over the last week or so, which started at Mount Boucherie Secondary in West Kelowna, where students voiced similar concerns.
Students at Kelowna Senior Secondary (KSS) quickly followed suit, as did students at Rutland Secondary, protesting for the second time again on Wednesday.
One protester came from another school within the district to join them.
“It’s unfair for people to walk around the schools feeling unsafe and always have to check around, or feel like they have to cover themselves up in baggy clothes because they don’t feel safe walking around school, where they’re supposed to feel safe,” said Grade 12 student Kelly Goulet.
RCMP confirmed to Global News there are two investigations currently underway, one involving a case at Mt. Boucherie School, the other at KSS.
School District 23 superintendent Kevin Kaardal told Global News in an email that school safety is the district’s top priority, and that the district supports student voices that bring awareness in creating a culture of consent.
The statement said, in every case, “we take action, develop safety plans and follow any conditions imposed by the legal system. Staff focus on ensuring a safe school environment for all students, provide services including counselling and connections to outside agencies.”
Kaardal said the school district follows a protocol that was jointly developed by RCMP and the Elizabeth Fry Society.
He also added school and district staff have spent dozens of hours listening to the concerned students and will continue to work with the students to explore how the district can continue to provide safe and caring school environments.
But students who Global News spoke with stated they won’t stop protesting until more action is taken.
“We’re not going to stop until we actually see them do something about the students who are either bullying other students or are the offenders of like sexually assaulting girls at the school,” Johnson said.
“We just choose to repetitively do it until we see them actually taking it seriously.”
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