School District officials are trying to come up with new strategies to deal with bullying of Grade 9 students at Saint John-area high schools.

District 8 schools are adding new measures this year to better protect Grade 9 students from incidents of so-called "rookie-ing" or hazing.

The initiations can range from marking the letter “R” for rookie on someone's arm or face to committing physical assault.

Keillor Irving, a Grade 12 student, said the controversial tradition is intimidating for students new to high school.

“I've seen kids come in completely covered from face to neck, in permanent marker, and that's sad,” Irving said.

Irving said the situation seems to have improved at Saint John High this year.

He credits that to the new staggered start to classes with Grade 9 students getting a full day by themselves to adjust to their new environment.

The efforts to limit the bullying of students in their first year at high school did help.

Irving said the controversial tradition of hazing was not nearly as widespread as it was a year earlier.

But, despite the improvements, he said any case of bullying is a concern.

“When you're coming into high school for the first time, you have enough to deal with, with new classes and new teachers, new kids and a whole new building environment,” Irving said.

“So having the threat of someone being able to write on your face with a permanent marker is not something that makes your day any easier or makes looking forward to go to high school for the first time any fun.”

The issue of hazing is also being examined from the district level.

Rob Fowler, the chairman of the District 8 Education Council, said dozens of new students were still victims of bullying their first week of school.

Fowler said he wants to host a hazing summit later in the school term to try to come up with new ways of addressing the issue.

“We need to remove that fear. We need to find a way for kids to report this without fear of repercussion,” Fowler said.

Fowler said he wants to see students, school administrators, and police officers take part in the hazing summit.