Hello Mount Pleasant Families,

Tomorrow is Pink Shirt Day.  Many students and adults will be wearing pink (although this is not a requirement) and there will be activities in classrooms throughout the school to promote kindness, inclusion and to address bullying.  The origin of this day was in Nova Scotia as reported here by The Globe and Mail:

“David Shepherd, Travis Price and their teenage friends organized a high-school protest to wear pink in sympathy with a Grade 9 boy who was being bullied [for wearing a pink shirt]…[They] took a stand against bullying when they protested against the harassment of a new Grade 9 student by distributing pink T-shirts to all the boys in their school. ‘I learned that two people can come up with an idea, run with it, and it can do wonders,’ says Mr. Price, 17, who organized the pink protest. ‘Finally, someone stood up for a weaker kid.’ So Mr. Shepherd and some other headed off to a discount store and bought 50 pink tank tops. They sent out message to schoolmates that night, and the next morning they hauled the shirts to school in a plastic bag. As they stood in the foyer handing out the shirts, the bullied boy walked in. His face spoke volumes. ‘It looked like a huge weight was lifted off his shoulders,’ Mr. Price recalled. The bullies were never heard from again.”

One of the first Vancouver Pink Shirt Day events to gather public attention was a flashmob organized by our own Ms. Patricia Kenon and her colleagues at the time at David Lloyd George Elementary.   If you have the time have a look at the video of this event  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhYyAa0VnyY

For those interested, tomorrow evening there will be a dance for Pink Shirt Day from 530 pm to 7 pm for students grades 3-7.  Entrance is by donation (recommendation: $2) and, after consulting with student organizers, all proceeds will be donated to help the people of Syria, Turkey, and Ukraine.  Although not a requirement, everyone is encouraged to show up wearing or displaying something pink.

If you would like more information regarding pink shirt day please go to the official website at https://www.pinkshirtday.ca/ .

Should anyone in the community become aware of a bullying incident at school please use the ERASE tool to report what is happening.  You can find it here https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/erase

Have a great day.