A district-wide parent group says the Greater Victoria School Board should not be fired over the issue of a safety plan ordered by the Education Ministry.
The Victoria Confederation of Parent Advisory Councils released a statement saying the board, which began its term in October 2022, has been responsive to parent concerns “on a broad number of issues.”
It said the current controversy, which has included threats by the education minister that the board could be fired if it doesn’t submit a satisfactory safety plan, should not be allowed to threaten a “functioning and democratically elected” body.
The safety-plan requirement is linked to controversy over the board’s decision in May 2023 to end the police liaison-officer program, which saw officers assigned to schools to work with students.
The board has said that the presence of police in schools could cause discomfort for Black and Indigenous students.
Local police departments, several local councils, First Nations and the parent group Parents and Police Together — with more than 2,000 members — have pushed back against the decision, calling for the police liaison-officer program to be restored.
The confederation’s statement said it does not have an official position on the ministry’s call for an updated safety plan from the board “given the lack of time to properly consult with families.”
It added that it was not called on to take part in developing the plan, and was not told at the time that board trustees were excluded from a meeting about the plan on Dec. 31.
Education Minister Lisa Beare had appointed a special advisor, former Abbotsford School District superintendent Kevin Godden, to help the board put together the plan, and Godden had hosted a working group on the issue.
Beare issued a statement Friday saying she appreciates the “many voices” that have been raised this week about school-safety matters, as well as those who worked on revising the safety plan, three versions of which were submitted by the board by a Monday deadline.
“I have heard concerns from First Nations, individual parent groups, police chiefs and municipal leaders about the safety of students in schools,” the minister said. “Concerns have also been raised about the overall governance of the school board.”
Beare said she will provide an update once a review of the three plans is complete.
The Esquimalt and Songhees Nations both wrote to Beare this week saying they were not consulted by the board when it decided to submit three versions of the safety plan, and that their concerns are being ignored.
The letter from the Songhees said the board is “unwilling to engage the Songhees Nation in matters that affect the safety and well-being of the students.”
About 20 people took part in a rally on Friday in front of the Education Ministry’s Superior Street offices in support of the board’s position on police in schools.
The Greater Victoria Teachers’ Association issued a statement from president Carolyn Howe on Thursday calling the firing threat “an inflammatory and unnecessary threat against elected officials.”
Howe said the board has faced “a relentless and co-ordinated campaign to reverse their decision” since voting to end the liaison-officer program.
“Over the last several months I have been dismayed at the amount of misinformation and division that has been spread in an effort to reinstate the former [liaison-officer] program.”
All of the current school board trustees were endorsed by the teachers’ association in the 2022 school board election.
The national group Policing-Free Schools said Friday that it has requested a meeting with Beare, and believes there is no evidence that having police in schools makes them safer.
