Sporadic tracking of school lockdowns

Some GTA boards don’t keep records about security incidents

A recent spate of lockdowns in GTA schools has raised questions about whether security-related incidents are rising.

But whether they are, or why, is impossible to know, because not all boards track lockdowns. The lack of data makes it difficult to discern any rise in threats — or hoaxes. Of 10 school boards surveyed by the Star, five said they tracked both lockdowns and hold-and-secures; one said it tracks lockdowns and was looking for a way to track hold-and-secures; and four tracked neither.

School safety advocates say this is a concern and that Ontario needs comprehensive statistics.

“When you’re not tracking it, you don’t see where there are gaps . . . You have to have the information to be able to deal with something,” said Stu Auty, president of the Canadian Safe Schools Network. “It could be easily mandated, easy to check, easy to track. It’s not a difficult job.”

Police received calls on Tuesday about a person with a weapon at a Mississauga secondary school and Brampton Centennial Secondary School — the second day in a row for such a call.

A lockdown also occurred at David Suzuki Secondary School in Brampton and was lifted after police detained two youths with a “replica hand gun.”

The incidents come after a stabbing at a North York high school in September and a series of hoaxes in May that sent five Peel schools into lockdown or hold-and-secure mode.

Whenever a threat happens near a school, but not very near, it triggers a hold-and-secure procedure. During that time, all outer doors are locked and no one may enter or leave, but classes and activities go on inside as usual.

Not all hold-and-secure procedures are security-related. Janine Bowyer, safe schools superintendent for the Durham Catholic District School Board, said hold-and-secures can also be ordered for events such as a medical incident in school halls.

“If there’s an upset student in the hallway, and they just want to make sure everybody stays in their room, that (can trigger) a hold-and-secure,” she said.

“(It’s) just a nice way of keeping students in their classrooms,” she said.

If a threat is very near or inside the school, or serious in nature, it will trigger a lockdown. All doors are locked, and students are kept inside classrooms. Depending on the lockdown protocol at that particular school, students might be told to move away from windows, and students’ cellphone use may be restricted.

Charles Pascal, former Ontario deputy education minister and professor at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, said school boards should be tracking and disclosing lockdowns happening at their schools.

“There should be some way of having a collective opportunity . . . to learn about the number of incidents, the different types of incidents, and how they’re being handled,” he said.

Pascal didn’t say whether disclosure should be mandated, but said it could be explored by the school board associations.

“Whether you have to mandate or not, it just makes good common sense that this kind of information should be tracked and shared,” he said. With files from Louise Brown and Evelyn Kwong

“There should be some way . . . to learn about the number of incidents . . . and how they’re being handled.” CHARLES PASCAL FORMER ONTARIO DEPUTY EDUCATION MINISTER