Louis Riel to review its police-in-schools program

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This article was published 03/03/2021 (1666 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Louis Riel School Division has hired an external researcher to conduct an equity-based review of its police-in-schools program. It remains unclear whether the program will be suspended for the time being.

Trustee Josie Landry introduced a notice of motion Tuesday to have the board consider pausing the work of the division’s single school resource officer — one of 19 officers who work in what’s known as the SRO program in Winnipeg — until a review is complete.

The notice, which was seconded by trustee Chris Sigurdson during a virtual meeting, sparked a heated debate.

The board was split on the motion, which is expected to be voted on at the next meeting March 16, having any merit. Several trustees pointed out the very reason a review is taking place is to find out how effective the program is in its 40 schools.

Originally created to build trust between police and marginalized communities, the program involves uniformed officers travelling between schools to do everything from giving presentations on bullying to undertaking threat assessments.

Trustee Tom Parker insisted Winnipeg is nothing like Hamilton or Toronto — in both cities, community members have successfully lobbied for the end of their respective police-in-school programs on the basis of them making racialized students feel anxious and unsafe.

The subject has created a “divide” between the board like nothing has before, Parker said during the Tuesday night meeting.

On Wednesday, Landry countered that perspective, saying the board has been engaging in “healthy conversation.”

“I’m trying to err on the side of caution. I would rather see the suspension now, do the review thoroughly, hear what the review has come up with and then make that decision, whether to continue the program or not,” Landry told the Free Press.

Louis Riel has hired Fadi Ennab, an instructor of urban and inner-city studies at the University of Winnipeg, to conduct a review.

Ennab has proposed a mixed-methodology approach: including a survey sent to students, school staff and parents; focus groups; and one-on-one interviews with students who have had direct experiences with the program. The goal is to wrap up before the end of the 2020-21 school year.

The division also recently created a school resource officer management committee, composed of the Winnipeg Police Service, students, community members and representatives from administration and the board.

Landry said she wrote up the suspension motion in the wake of parents and a school in the division raising questions about the program, and after contacting representatives from boards in Edmonton and Hamilton about their experiences.

Amid protests against police brutality and a renewed focus on the Black Lives Matter movement, Hamilton’s board ended its program in June. Edmonton Public Schools’ program has been suspended for 2020-21 during a review.

A teacher in Louis Riel recently quit after an incident with a school resource officer; the teacher took to Twitter to cite the officer’s involvement in his school as part of the reason for his departure.

maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @macintoshmaggie