Highschool teacher here - this is ridiculous in the way it was done. They could have done an anonymous box, which usually works out as we use them as point of reference. This could be a very useful tool as kids are pretty honest with this type of thing, but it must be done correctly.
Unless the school is living under a rock, they should already have an idea of who the bullies are; therefore, if the same kid is showing up on a list, chances are, he/she is a bully. BUT, and it's a big but, it's up to the school to keep that list anonymous at all times (have they heard of a privacy act?), and investigate the heck out of that situation. It could be useful if used properly.
This type of thing relieves the school of doing its job, and it creates more of a bullying situation in its current set-up. Not sure where the staff got their training from, but that is just a ridiculous situation.
Bullying is one of the hardest things for us to do deal with, besides drugs. We find that most parents perpetuate bullying by playing rough at home, and not accepting that their children are bullies. We are finding that the home situation is a big variable in bullying behaviour, yet most people feel it's the school's sole responsibility to deal with it.
In our school board, we even handle bullying that is done off of school property, but we feel it's imperative in order to curb the situation. That being said, we still have dumb principals and teachers who don't take it seriously at all. We now have a big technological bullying policy at our school board too, and so texting, chatting, emails and other things are monitoried and turned over to police as necessary.
Bullying is a tough thing for all involved, but as schools, our job is to do everything that we can in our power to handle it, and in this case, that school droppped the ball big-time.
Tiger
That is just asking for trouble! If a bully sees that a certain child listed him/her as a bully, (s)he is even more likely to go after that kid!
