No police liaisons could soon mean no job for SD61 board members

Sd61 headquarters

Nine school board members elected to the SD61 school board a little over two years ago could soon be replaced by the province over the ongoing standoff over the police liaison program.

SD61 has 20k students in 10 middle schools and seven secondary schools across the district in Esquimalt, Oak Bay, Victoria, View Royal, and parts of Saanich and Highlands. The question of whether the School Police Liaison Officer (SPLO) program should be reinstated in those schools came to a head last fall. The minister responsible for education and childcare issued a directive by ministerial order for an updated student safety plan to be developed in collaboration with the board of education and police departments.”

Then last month, the new education minister Lisa Beare she said the submitted plan was inadequate and that she would consider firing the board members if she was not satisfied with their next draft.

The crux of what the minister would consider a safety plan satisfactory appears to be whether that plan includes an SPLO program.

As a next step, the minister could undo the 2022 democratic process of electing the nine board members and appoint a trustee in their stead. The minister’s threat has tipped the ongoing debate around the SPLO issue alone into a broader one of jurisdiction over jurisprudence

As a next step, the minister could undo the 2022 democratic process of electing the nine board members and appoint a trustee in their stead. The minister’s threat has tipped the ongoing debate around the SPLO issue alone into a broader one of jurisdiction over jurisprudence.

It wouldn’t be the first time an entire Island school board was fired by the ministry.

In 2012, then-education minister George Abbot fired the Cowichan School Board for its refusal to comply with the School Act by submitting a balanced budget. In 2016 on the mainland, then- education minister Mike Bernier fired the Vancouver school board over similar budget issues.

The jurisdictional cudgel of the provincial government has also recently been waved at Sooke and Oak Bay over housing quotas laid out for them in recent updates to the Housing Act.

But the SD61 board feels that unlike such cases, it is being threatened over an arbitrary issue rather than a specific Act violation: the lack, in previous drafts, of an SPLO program.

In an email to Capital Daily, board chair Nicole Duncan wrote “The Board has effectively been asked to cede oversight of one program–—SPLOs—to police. The proposal would see the Board potentially have no insight or control over which officer(s) are attending schools, when, or what they do while they are there. And we have been threatened with summary dismissal if we do not comply.”

“SD61 is not the only board of 60 in the province without some type of program for working with police in schools,” said Duncan.

Lisa Beare via BCNDP caucus / Nicole Duncan via SD61 site

“If the board fails to deliver an appropriate revised safety plan that I can approve,” Beare said at a news conference last month, “or if the board does not co-operate with the special adviser, I am willing to take any step necessary to ensure the safety of students and staff by considering all options available to me under the School Act,”

In a memorandum issued on Jan 5, the board argues it believes that, in her rare implementation of an administrative directive / Ministerial Order (339/24), the minister is acting beyond her jurisdiction. The board also says it is “reserving its rights to seek a jurisdictional determination” on this dispute, but is submitting three safety plans nonetheless “in order to avoid being dismissed and replaced by a trustee.”

On Friday, the Greater Victoria Teachers’ Association (GVTA) and Victoria Confederation of Parent Advisory Councils (VCPAC) declared their disapproval of the minister’s threat to fire members of the board.

“Hearing the new Minister make such an inflammatory and unnecessary threat against elected officials in December was shocking,” said Carolyn Howe, president of the GVTA in a statement.

“Having the Minister take action to dismiss them after this lobbying would have a chilling effect on other school boards, municipal governments, and other organizations who wish to critically examine the role of policing in community settings and implement oversight and reforms.”

The timeline of the SPLO dispute

In 2018,VicPD ended its School Liaison program over a budget dispute with the city council, when the police force didn’t receive the budget increase it wanted.Other liaison programs (Oak Bay, Saanich, West Shore) continued.

In 2021, the Office of the Human Rights Commissioner issued the report Equity is safer: Human rights considerations for policing reform in British Columbia. In it, the HRCO  advises school boards to end their liaison officer (SPLO) programs unless they can demonstrate an evidence-based need for them that cannot be met by other means.

‍

A No SPLO rally outside the Ministry of Education offices in Victoria. Photo: Sidney Coles / Capital Daily

The OHRC recommendation was based on research the Office commissioned showing that studies in other jurisdictions demonstrate SPLO programs are often harmful to Indigenous, Black, other racialized and disabled students (but also showing a lack of BC.-specific research); the voices of communities that have long been impacted by discriminatory policing.

In March 2023, the board voted to eliminate the SPLO program citing the following: a lack of terms of reference; the police not being subject to any agreement between the board and police services; a lack of board oversight into the delivery of the program or the aims and goals of the SPLOs; and a dearth of data detailing the frequency or nature of visits and interactions with students.

This move did not bar police altogether. In a Jan. 5 memo, the board argued the district already had police in schools—they provide violent risk assessments, undertake training and presentations and volunteer at school events, just not in a manner pursuant to a formal SPLO program. In that same memo, the board states it “does not concede that a standalone safety plan is necessary based on any empirical evidence.”

VicPD chief Del Manak reads at George Jay elementary last spring, in a visit outside of the SPLO program

Early this year, police alleged that gang activity involving vape-selling and extortion was rising in local schools, and VicPD said it believed it should reintroduce SPLOs. Local councils Victoria and Saanich wrote letters recommending that the programs resume, albeit with reforms.

‍ A letter dated Aug 30 sent to Vic and Esquimalt PD board chair Micayla Hayes from public safety minister Mike Farnworth and education minister Rachna Singh says “it is important for police to be able to support staff in the prevention and intervention of gang activity in our schools. WIth the new school year only days away, our desire is to assist further in dialogue to ensure this support is in place.”

The minister then issued her Ministerial Order shortly before the fall BC election, giving the board two months to send her a “proactive, co-ordinated safety plan that will help address safety concerns in the school district” and satisfy a number of objectives related to police involvement.

A draft safety plan submitted by the district in November Administrative Directive to the Board of Education of School District No. 61 was not approved by the minister. Based on that, Beare announced on Dec. 6 the appointment (pursuant to section 171.1 of the School Act), of special adviser Kevin Godden, a former Abbotsford school superintendent. Godden’s role was to assist the board to “revise and improve” an acceptable safety plan.

Board and advisor ended up at odds

According to the detailed timeline outlined in its memo, a working group was convened on Dec. 17 by Godden to work on the plan. That working group included representatives from the Songhees, Esquimalt, and Métis Nations. The board found the draft safety plan submitted on Jan. 2 to be lacking on a number of fronts, beyond the issue of inclusion of a SPLO program and the group was asked to submit another draft by Jan. 3. That plan had to be submitted by Jan. 6—last Monday.

“Our preferred approach would guarantee the possibility of all of the initiatives the police seek, but subject to the review, approval and oversight of the Board guaranteed in the law. It would deepen the relationship between the District, police services, Indigenous Rightsholders, and other educational partners. In the alternative, under threat of termination, the Board has agreed to submit other versions of the plan, while making our misgivings about them known,” said Duncan.

“For that reason, the Board submitted multiple safety plans for the Minister’s approval.”

Sd61 board members, sans chair Duncan

‍

The safety plan put forward by Godden, who had worked with district staff, stakeholders and the Esquimalt and Songhees nations, was sidelined by the board. The board then submitted two other alternate drafts, the second of which only allows police on school grounds in response to an emergency or for making presentations to students. Those drafts were never shown to the Esquimalt and Songhees First Nations.

After the board called for a separate version of the safety plan limiting police involvement in schools, Godden told trustees in a memo that he couldn’t continue to do his job “with the integrity it was intended.” He has since withdrawn from the process, though the ministry said Godden would be submitting a report about his work with the board, police, First Nations and others at the end of this week.

The board ultimately sent Beare three options asking that she consider their two alternate versions first but approve Godden's version as a third resort.

Some unhappy about board’s handling of plan drafts and communications

In his Jan. 8 comments on CFAX Radio, Piet Langstraat, a former special adviser to the minister of education said he’d called in to say he knew Godden well.

“He is a decent, ethical, smart man. For him, an ethical man, for him to take the ethical stance that he can’t work with the board speaks volumes.”

During the same broadcast Kylie Kalie Dyer, the director of education for the Esquimalt Nation, said it was evident that “it was  [Godden’s] intention to bring all parties together.”

In her letter to the Esquimalt Nation dated Dec. 4, board Chair Nicole Duncan wrote “the limited time available, given the Nov. 15 deadline, impaired our ability to meaningfully collaborate with rights holders.”

“Under the principles of Truth and Reconciliation, continuing to work with a board that repeatedly continues [to dismiss] the nation’s role right as holders is unacceptable,” said Dyer.

In her own letter to the education minister, Dyer wrote, “The Board failed to share either additional Safety Plan with the Nations, and to date—now several days after making these documents public—the Nations have received no communication from the Board about the changes or how they might impact students and families.”

“There is no [board] relationship at this point with the Esquimalt Nation. It has been repeatedly tarnished, over and over again,” she said on CFAX. She said the nation was involved in the Dec. 6 meeting with other stakeholders where Esquimalt First Nation Coun. Sherry Thomas, through tears, said to the district chair, “Please don’t forget us.”

There are others, who, like Dyer, are upset at the board’s decision to dig its heels in, despite that stark warning from the minister’s office and feedback from their communities of learners, parents, and staff.

SPLO image via SD61 Facebook

“For me and for my parent community, who I represent, we are struggling to understand why the board is so committed to its position,” Draper, the Spectrum Community School PAC chair, told Capital Daily in an interview.

“The point of the school board is to ensure equitable access to programs and educational services. That is the role of the elected board,” she said. “As much as they fought for the school music programs, why aren't they fighting for the safety of students in the same way? Are they just virtue signaling? And at this point, who are they virtue signaling for?” She told Capital Daily she felt the board chair’s position was somehow personal.

“I get that this is a tough job, but your job is representing the people who elected you.”

In her email, Duncan pushed back against any notion that she is acting unilaterally.

“As Board Chair, I’m the Board’s spokesperson. I do not make unilateral decisions, and in respect to the SPLO program the Board made a unanimous decision in May 2023 following a multi-year review which found that the initiative lacked any defined purpose, terms of reference, roles, or responsibilities, with no accountability to the Board for the delivery or outcomes of the program.”

Spectrum Community School PAC Chair Kindrée Draper said the “entrenched position” the board has taken on SPLOs runs contrary not just to the views and wishes of parents but “to every other school board in the province.”

However, not all school districts in the province have SPLO programs. In fact many school districts do not have SPLO programs. The New Westminster School District

doesn't have an SLPO program. The Vancouver school board voted to eliminate its SPLO program in 2021 but reinstated it two years later with 15 specially trained officers that were integrated into high schools, beginning in Sept. 2023, not under duress from the ministry, but based on feedback it received from the community.

‍ Debate over whether issues of youth crime have risen

For Mia Goldman, a counsellor on Victoria’s Mobile Youth Services Team, there are growing safety concerns for students at district schools.  On July 14, she told the Victoria and Esquimalt Police Board there is “no substitute for having members of the police as school liaison officers.” Its school counsellors and parents who call the mobile youth services team, or MYST, for support when they are worried about the safety of their children.”

Goldman told the board gang activity around schools had increased. She explained that because of an increase in sexual violence targeting young people, young students are afraid to use the school bathroom because of threats and sexual coercion.

That burden of proof, particularly as it relates to police engagement and increasing gang activity has not been borne out in reporting by regional police.

CHEK news reported in December that the school board had asked West Shore RCMP, Victoria, Saanich, and Oak Bay Police departments for call data on gang recruitment or other criminal activity involving youth going back to 2015.

Per CHEK, the board says that while police departments responded to their requests, the data they received from them either did not have instances ‍ of criminal activity involving youths or included data pertaining to the broader community.

In stats requested and released to the board by Saanich PD, the total number of calls for service was steady–258 in 2023, up from 256 the year before and down from 327 in 2021. Some schools saw an increase in calls, while others had fewer calls.

Saanich Police data on files with "gang" and "school" (including universities) show 2023 numbers above 2022 but nearly identical to the 10-year average

VicPD had a total of 188 calls to SD61 schools in 2023, compared to 208 the year before and 202 calls in 2021. Calls for services to each school were also mixed with some seeing fewer calls and others seeing more.

Last year, VicPD reported 21 files involving gangs, compared to 13 in 2022, the second-highest number of gang files in a single year since 2015. However, VicPD also noted that the gang files are not specific to activity involving schools and they document all interactions with people associated with gang activity.

Friday rally opposes SPLO return

T he NO 2 SPLOs SD61 Facebook campaign sprouted up online last month, and has received broad support from parents, teachers, and community members. One of its organizers, Alyx MacAdams, told Capital Daily the board had conducted thorough review over two and a half years, revealing no data collection on SPLO interactions, leading to concerns about student safety, particularly among BIPOC and LGBTQ+ students.

At first, they explained, “It was a rapid fire, quick-and-dirty letter-writing campaign” to the minister to address what the province was asking from the school board trustees.

The group held a small rally outside the minister’s office on Jan. 10. Apart from MacAdams, there were no other parents there. Matthew Christie, a teacher at Vic West Elementary, who also attended the NO SPLO rally on his lunch break, said the ministry needs to do a better job of speaking with teachers and asking what they need to support students better in classrooms.”

Others who were there chanted “Supports not surveillance!” and “Yes to democracy and no to SLOs!” Some of the group's signs and chants spoke to broader questions around the limits of police surveillance beyond schools.

MacAdams criticized the SPLO program as a distraction from addressing genuine student needs, such as mental-health support and adequate counselling. They also noted the financial burden on taxpayers and the formerly inconsistent SPLO presence in schools.

“One thing not being talked about enough is that the Ministry of Education doesn't pay for the SPLO program,” MacAdams said. “We will pay. The municipal taxpayers will pay. And in Victoria, [the] city budget is, you know, 23% of our budget goes to policing.”

‍ Lack of school resources remains an overarching issue

“We talk about what is needed to address safety in schools, where we are not meeting the needs of students in terms of health support, having counsellors and having adequate counselling in schools.”  MacAdams’ child attends a high-needs elementary school that has one full-time counsellor for many hundreds of students.

“Many schools don't even have full time counsellors. We don't have enough EAs,” MacAdams said.

Draper wouldn’t disagree.

“Nobody is arguing that schools need more resources.” In a letter she wrote in Jan 2024 to the board in her role as chair of Colquitz Middle School Parent Advisory Council, Draper wrote, “Unfortunately, what is evident in K-12—as it is across the rest of the provincial public sector—is that there are shortages of school psychologists, nurses, social workers and counsellors who are best suited to fulfil many of the services SPLOs have been providing in SD61 schools.”

Colquitz Middle by SD61

Draper said that where student safety and well-being are concerned, “there's a huge difference between calling the police liaison, who's assigned to your school, versus the guy on patrol or the woman on patrol. They're coming in hot because there's been a police situation that has warranted a call. Parents who have had a bad experience with patrol officers have conflated those things.”

MacAdams shares Draper and Dryer’s concerns about the lack of responsiveness from the board, admitting they’d had concerns about the consultation processes and liaising and connection between First Nations and the school board trustees.

“To me, there are structural concerns around how we continue to, with the board, build relationships.” MacAdams said.

VPAC offered a different take on the board’s engagement saying in its statement on Friday, “the current school board of SD61 have been very supportive of working with VCPAC and other partners with respect to discussions around improving equity, diversity, inclusion and student safety, and has meaningfully attempted to source data with respect to student-to-student and student-to-staff incidents within schools.”

The board will now have to wait for the minister’s response to its recent submissions.