While Ontario Education Minister Paul Calandra decides what to do with school boards, another controversy is dividing parents, teachers and school board officials – should schools reinstate or maintain “school resource officer” programs.
The programs place police officers in schools to help prevent and deal with violence and to try and teach students that police are supposed to be there to help, not harass.
Earlier this year, the Minister introduced, Bill 33, The Supporting Children and Students Act. Expected to become law this fall, it requires boards “to work with local police services to provide them with access to school premises, permit them to participate in school programs and implement school resource officer programs.”
An auditor general’s report, issued last year, revealed that violent incidents in Toronto public schools had increased by 67%. Perhaps more alarming was the breakdown of the incidents – physical assaults in high schools were up 117 percent, sexual assaults were up 92 percent and weapons possession incidents were up 92 percent. Other estimates have pegged the increase in overall violence since 2018 at 77 percent.
Given that, you would think the Minister’s move would be wildly supported. But as usual in the education sector, critics are pushing back strongly, starting with the traditional complaint that all we need is more money to solve the problem. Just hire more social workers and mental health professionals and all will be well.
But Fraser Institute researcher, Michael Zwaagstra says there is no correlation between funding and school violence. Funding has increased by 24.9%, from the 2012 to 2013 school year to 2021-22, even after inflation is factored in.
Other critics have warned that the program will cause a dangerous “militarization” of our schools. At a recent public protest demonstration against the bill, one opponent claimed that children, particularly those from diverse communities, were being criminalized for things that would normally be dealt with through “everyday discipline.”
Another critic claimed that cancelling the program protected children from being stopped, searched, targeted and criminalized for “everyday instances of young people being young people.”
It is challenging, to say the least, to accept that physical and sexual assault and bringing weapons to school is now regarded as “everyday” behaviour.
It is true that a Toronto school board survey showed that 10% of students felt less safe in the presence of police officers; instead, feeling targeted, harassed and even threatened. But that same study also found that 57% of students felt safer with police in their school. A significant portion of those respondents wanted the programs to continue.
Clayton Campbell, head of the Toronto Police Association, said the program had received “overwhelmingly positive feedback from teachers, students and parents because our officers were valuable members of the school community.”
He described the program as one where police officers “took a leadership role in running programs such as anti-bullying, music, sports, community outreach initiatives, restorative justice circles, tutoring and breakfast clubs.”
Of course, there have been issues with how the programs have been implemented in some communities. The Toronto Star cites a police officer in a video about the program, admitting that trust of the police in some communities had been low. “We’ve made mistakes and we’re working to resolve those mistakes and mend bridges that have been broken.”
But the answer is not to abandon such initiatives.
School violence is one of the top issues teacher unions constantly raise with the government. Teachers can’t teach and students can’t learn when they are not safe nor feel safe. We don’t tolerate such behaviour in the workplace so why are we so reluctant to deal with it in our classrooms?
As more young people get involved in criminal behaviour at an earlier age, solutions that might identify and redirect them to better choices are badly needed. Finding ways to build and rebuild trust between police and various communities and to break down prejudices need to be pursued.
Even Mayor Olivia Chow, who is not regarded as a police advocate, wants to expand the city’s Neighbourhood Community Officer program where police are “embedded” in a community to become a source of reassurance, not stress, in the words of the Toronto Star.
It is a tough balance to achieve. But there are solutions. The school resource officer program is one of them. The Minister’s legislation provides an opportunity to make it work.
Janet Ecker is a former Ontario Finance Minister, Minister of Education, Minister of Community and Social Services and Government House Leader in the governments of Premier Mike Harris and Premier Ernie Eves. After her political career, she served as the founding CEO of the Toronto Financial Services Alliance, a public-private partnership dedicated to building Toronto region into an international financial centre. She currently sits on a number of corporate and non-profit boards, agencies and advisory committees.
Ms. Ecker received the Order of Canada for her public service contributions and was recognized as one of the “Most Influential People in the World’s Financial Centres” by Financial Centres International. She also received a “Canada’s Most Powerful Women: Top 100 Award” from the Women’s Executive Network and the Richard Ivey School of Business, among other awards. She is also one of the founders of Equal Voice, a national, multi-partisan organization working to elect more women.
