Commentary
Things are not going well at Pinecrest Public School, a K-8 school in Ottawa Carleton District School Board.
Recent media reports reveal that Pinecrest is in a state of disarray and that many staff members have been suspended for raising concerns about rampant bullying and the lack of discipline. Michael Sternberg, a former grade 5 and 6 teacher at Pinecrest, publicly stated that many of his students told him that they felt unsafe at school.
Pinecrest’s problems appear to stem from the principal’s wholehearted embrace of “The Third Path” philosophy, which focuses on building positive relationships with students to address the “underlying causes” of misbehaviour. To achieve this objective, teachers need to move away from using rewards and punishments to control students….