A special advisor has been appointed to the Greater Victoria School Board (SD61) to aid them in revising their previously submitted safety plan.
This comes after SD61’s decision to end the school police liaison officer (SPLO) program, which was met with contention from stakeholders despite the school board’s intensive research and analysis of the program’s viability.
In May, the decision to end the SPOL program came after several students, staff and administration shared concerns that having police officers in schools, making certain marginalized groups feel uncomfortable and unsafe.
“Police are being asked to fill in gaps in student support and to take on roles that should be filled by individuals with specialized expertise, such as youth and family counsellors and social workers,” said Nicole Duncan, Education Chair for SD61, at the time the program was cut.
On Friday, December 6th, Lisa Beare, Minister of Education and Child Care, appointed Kevin Godden, as a special adviser to the Greater Victoria School District 61.
Prior to this appointment, Godden served as former superintendent of the Abbotsford School District.
“It is a top priority of our government that schools must be welcoming places where all students and staff can come to learn and grow safely,” Beare said.
“I believe the best approach to safety is a collaborative one. That’s why I am taking immediate action to ensure students and staff in SD61 are returning to school in the new year with a safety plan in place.”
According to the Province, this appointment takes effect immediately and Godden will be assisting the board with developing a revised safety plan.
This safety plan will include an implementation plan, which the Province requires to be submitted by January 6th.
A required part of the revision process is to ensure safety experts, police, key community partners and rightsholders all have a say in what the submitted safety plan will entail.
Safer Schools Together is the Province’s team of school safety experts and they have conducted an independent review of the district’s safety plan.
Recently, the Songhees and Esquimalt First Nations have expressed that they want police to be in schools, along with the four police departments within SD61’s jurisdiction as well as other stakeholders.
“While the school district’s safety plan provides some support for high-risk vulnerable youth and staff training, the plan is deficient in addressing key aspects of a comprehensive safety plan,” said Theresa Campbell, Safer Schools Together founder and chief executive officer.
“Proactive safety plans must include strong relationships and collaboration with law enforcement, First Nations and other community partners. There is also a need for more specificity regarding safety strategies, protocols and processes.”
SD61’s initial decision to end the SPLO program came from an overwhelming amount of evidence, feedback from racialized youth within their system, consultation from organizations advocating for racialized youth and a widespread movement in North America to end school police liaison programs.
Despite the amount of evidence which led SD61 to make its decision to end the SPOL program, the Province’s special advisor to the school board will now enforce changes in the direction of the board’s safety plan on behalf of the Province.
The board and its employees are required to assist the special adviser in carrying out their duties.
The expectations of the plan that SD61 will submit, with input from the Provincial special advisor, is that it will address reported increases in gang activity, improve the relationship between police and the board, establish safety, crime prevention and crisis-response strategies and establish trauma-informed relationships between students and police.
It also must include protocol for communication and co-ordination between the board and the police, describe the respective roles and responsibilities of the board and the police and establish a process for changing the safety plan that includes collaboration.
Since SD61 has ended the SPOL program, they have been under pressure to reinstate school police.
In a letter to the Songhees and Esquimalt Nations sent on December 5th, the school board specified their reasoning for ending the program.
“In submitting the Safety Plan to the Minister of Education and Child Care, the Board reiterated that it does not support the use of police services to manage student behavior or discipline in our schools, unless the behavior constitutes criminal behaviour on the part of the student,” wrote SD61.
“Appropriate qualified school district staff are responsible for managing student behavior and student discipline.”
Even though police liaisons will not be in schools in the same capacity they were, SD61 also reiterated that police will still be called upon to address safety and policing matters, when warranted.
“To be clear, the Board is committed to ensuring the safety and best interest of our students. As such our focus is on who is best placed to provide services to students.”
Prior to the SPLO program being ended, liaison officers have not been in Esquimlat schools since 2018 and were not onsite at every school within the district in a full time capacity.
