Activists applaud vote to remove police from Toronto schools
TORONTO — A group of activists called on the Ontario government to ban the practice of stationing uniformed police officers at high schools across the province after the Toronto District School Board voted to permanently end the program.
The decision by the country’s largest school board to scrap the controversial School Resource Officer program was met with loud applause Wednesday night. The vote came a little more than a week after TDSB staff released a report recommending the elimination of the program because it left some students feeling intimidated or uncomfortable.
Phillip Morgan, a member of Education Not Incarceration, called the decision “a huge victory” that has been 10 years in the making. Morgan said there is still work left to do because the program is in place at the Toronto Catholic District School Board and other school boards in the province.
Education Minister Mitzie Hunter said while school boards may partner with police for a variety of reasons, including community building, the ministry does not provide funding for or have involvement in the programs.
The School Resource Officer program, which the TDSB suspended at the end of August, saw police officers deployed at 45 of its high schools in an effort to improve safety and perceptions of police. It was implemented in 2008 after 15-year-old Jordan Manners was shot and killed at C. W. Jefferys Collegiate Institute the previous year.
The TDSB staff report this month said the review of the program found the majority of those surveyed had a generally positive impression. However, it noted, about 10 per cent felt intimidated, uncomfortable or that they were being watched at school.
Although staff putting together the report heard from a significant number who supported the presence of an officer in their school (57 per cent), it said the board’s priority must be “to mitigate against the differentiated and discriminatory impact of the SRO program.”
Rodney Diverlus, a member of Black Lives Matter, said there are better supports for students than having officers in schools.
“We believe the removal of the program puts an emphasis on the Ministry of Education to actually give adequate funding to the TDSB and other boards to support in having child and youth workers, equity-based social workers, more guidance counsellors and more time for teachers and teaching staff,” Diverlus said. “A wide range of educators and community-based workers would better support students, student safety and student achievement.”
Toronto police spokesman Mark Pugash would not comment directly on TDSB’s decision, but said “the interaction between police and young people is an extremely beneficial one.”