On Oct. 6 George McDougall student Cailtin Haacke, 16, arrived at school a half-an-hour earlier than usual to distribute 850 sticky notes on every locker and some doors in the school. Her message was to spread positivity such as “you’re beautiful,” “you make the world special,” “you’re awesome.”
However, soon after school began that day, school administration pulled Haacke out of her class to tell her the messages were being removed.
“(Administration) said, ‘We need to talk about this. There’s a real problem,’” Haacke said.
“(Administration said), ‘When they fall down they’re going to hit the floor and we can’t sweep them up, that’s not what our custodial service is here to do so that’s causing the main issue.’”
Haacke said, she told administration she had already picked up the sticky notes she had seen on the ground and was planning on staying late after school to clean up the rest, but was told the notes would be removed immediately.
The Grade 11 student said administration also told her she had gone ahead with her sticky note campaign without getting permission from administration or leadership.
However, Haacke claims several teachers including a leadership teacher and guidance counsellor had seen her putting up the sticky notes and told her what she was doing was a good initiative.
“I told (administration) that and (administration) just kind of denied it,” Haacke said.
Though Haacke said she did not receive any disciplinary action she is still upset and confused about why the notes were taken down.
“I was told, while this was a good idea, I need to refocus my energy, which really confuses me because this stemmed back to an issue last year where there was vandalism in the school washroom and I covered up and wrote ‘you’re beautiful’ instead,” she said, adding other students started doing it as well. “I was told it was vandalism and I got suspended for two days.”
“They told me you need to find better and non-permanent mediums to do such a thing. So, a year later, I found a better and non-permanent way to do such a thing and they pulled it down.”
Haacke’s mom Nicole said she fully supports her daughter and is equally upset the notes were removed.
Nicole said Haacke’s sticky note campaign was the result of bullying Haacke had faced at the school on Sept. 25 when someone broke into Haacke’s locker and used her tablet to post a “disgusting” message on Haacke’s Facebook page.
The message contained vulgar language, derogatory terms and suggested Haacke take her own life.
Nicole said the incident was reported to the school and the RCMP but the individual(s) responsible have yet to be determined, something that frustrates Nicole and Haacke.
“The thing they do discipline for is when someone does something positive,” Nicole said.
“We’re so frustrated with the school because we really think they’re focusing on the wrong things.”
Rocky View Schools Director of Communications Angela Spanier said the school is taking the bullying incident very seriously and are “thoroughly investigating now.”
“We’re on it and in communication with the parents,” Spanier said and added that the school would help find another way to express her message. Spanier added administration at the school has approached the student leadership group to find another way to spread Haacke’s positive messages.
“She wasn’t disciplined at all. The school congratulated her for the initiative but said because all the (sticky notes) were ending up on the floor, perhaps she could find another way to post the messages,” Spanier said, adding the school was looking at using electronic boards to post the messages.
Nicole posted a message about the incident on the Facebook page Airdrie Moms and the group soon began organizing a Positive Post-It Campaign and Haacke and Nicole attended the Airdrie City council meeting on Oct. 6 to ask Oct. 9 be declared Positive Post-It Campaign Day.
Council unanimously declared Oct. 9 as a day to celebrate the movement.
Positive Post-It Campaign organizer Melinda Tobias-Sarpal said the move by council “speaks volumes.”
“When the City says, ‘We’re OK with this’ that means everybody can jump on board,” she said.
A group of Airdrie parents have been distributing posters to schools in the city, in Calgary and online asking schools and residents to write an anonymous positive message on a sticky note and post it somewhere public.
“We’re trying to put positive words everywhere,” she said. “We are hoping it will eliminate some of the bullying.”
As of Oct. 7 Staples Airdrie joined in the support for the campaign and were offering free Post-It Notes for the first 50 customers who go to customer service and asks for their free pad.
Tobias-Sarpal said the posters have been distributed to schools in Airdrie and the group is organizing volunteers to go into the schools at the end of the day on Oct. 9 to clean up the notes.
Tobias-Sarpal said the movement has reached as far as England via social media platforms and they are hoping to make the event an annual thing.
“I think it’s amazing,” Haacke said of the support she has received from the community and her fellow students, “but I think a lot of people need to realize it wasn’t just me. A lot of people have tried to do similar things… but so many people in the school have great ideas like this but they’re afraid to do it because of our administration.”
“I’m really, really happy that everybody is saying ‘this is amazing’ but it could have been anybody. We have the power to do this but it’s not just me, it’s the entire student body coming together,” she added.
“Just look at what the city’s done with it, it’s not just me, it’s Airdrie and it’s amazing.”
On Oct. 7 Nicole posted to the Positive Post-It Campaign Facebook page that George McDougall administration contacted her that morning and said the school would like to participate in Positive Post-It Day Oct. 9.
“Glad to see they have stepped up,” Nicole wrote.
For more information on Positive Post-It Campaign Day, visit The Positive Post-It Campaign Facebook page.
-With Files from Christina Waldner
