TDSB school safety report falls short, critics say
62-page response to death of student Hamid Aminzada neglects big, systemic issues
A Toronto District School Board report on school safety ignores big-picture issues that lead to violence in schools, critics say.
The 62-page document, School Safety and Engaged Communities, was released Wednesday night in response to the stabbing death of 19year-old Hamid Aminzada at North Albion Collegiate Institute in September.
Its 41 recommendations include tighter security measures such as locking mechanisms and upgrades to CCTV cameras, increased hallway supervision and improvements to social supports in school.
But youth outreach worker Chris Penrose said the report doesn’t address how income disparity and the lack of opportunities in some communities create a climate where students turn to violence. “If you want a safe school, you need a healthy community,” Penrose told the Star.
“As long as there’s an opportunity gap, we are going to have disproportionate levels of concern around safety in particular communities and in particular schools.”
Penrose pointed to a number of flaws in the school system. Guidance counsellors, particularly for special needs transfer students, are stretched thin, he said. Teachers, he added, should be more reflective of the communities they work in.
Some of the recommendations in Wednesday’s report, such as appointing someone to co-ordinate services between schools and other agencies in the city, are ideas that have been previously raised, he said, but without any follow-through.
Specifically, Penrose pointed to a 2008 report on school safety commissioned after Toronto teen Jordan Manners was shot to death inside a school. That report, co-written by Toronto lawyer Julian Falconer, blamed Manners’ death in part on cutbacks to social workers and support for at-risk students.
Both Penrose and Doug Jolliffe, president of the Toronto district of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation, said the most recent report focused too narrowly on the incident at North Albion Collegiate Institute.
Having more administrators in hallways, especially principals, would make things safer, according to Jolliffe.
“We don’t have the caretakers that we used to have,” he said, calling for higher levels of staffing. As for tightening up security at entrances, “kids will get around it.”
He said the report does nothing to alleviate concerns teachers have for their own safety. Reached by phone Thursday, Aminzada’s cousin, Salim Fahimi, said he’s not sure stricter rules would have saved his cousin.
“This could happen to anybody, anywhere, anytime,” he said. Kids should be taught how to resolve their problems non-violently, he added. “They need to learn how to get along with one another.”
Toronto police said they are looking forward to reviewing the report and continuing to work with the TDSB to make schools safer. With files from Diana Hall