Four Greater Victoria police chiefs have notified Education Minister Lisa Beare that they have lost confidence in the Greater Victoria School Board.
“We have reached a point where we no longer see a productive and meaningful path forward collaborating with the current board. Regrettably, we as police leaders have lost confidence in the board,” says a letter signed by West Shore RCMP Supt. Todd Preston, Saanich Chief Dean Duthie, Oak Bay Chief Julie Chanin and Victoria Chief Del Manak.
The letter was written last week after the school trustees posted a lengthy memo and resolution related to the three separate safety plans they submitted to Beare in the ongoing controversy over school police liaison officers.
The letter is on the agenda for Tuesday’s Victoria Esquimalt Police Board meeting.
Beare and her predecessor, Rachna Singh, had directed the board to produce a safety plan. The directive was in response to community concerns about the restrictions trustees imposed last year on local police visiting schools. The board stated that some students and staff don’t feel safe when officers are there.
A first version of the plan was rejected by Beare as being insufficient. She appointed a special advisor, Kevin Godden, to assist the board in making a second attempt.
The board, facing the threat of being fired if it doesn’t comply, responded by filing three more versions with different approaches to school police liaison officer. It also disputed her authority to direct the safety plan and hinted at legal action.
Chair Nicole Duncan said then that it’s difficult to see the minister’s initial rejection of their safety plan as “anything other than a desire to see … the kind of unfettered, unsupervised, unaccountable access police previously enjoyed in schools.”
The police chiefs were involved in meetings leading up to that response and initially felt positive, they said. But then the school board voted against the outline of a safety plan developed at the meetings, and submitted two alternate versions along with the one filed under protest.
The chiefs said the accompanying memo “appears to assign blame and further entrench the board’s position.”
The letter is the latest in a series of sharply critical objections to the board’s conduct.
The Esquimalt and Songhees Nations were both involved in the meetings that preceded the safety plans. Both later wrote to Beare complaining that they were left out of the decision to file additional safety plans and not notified that they were coming.
“These actions are incomprehensible, further eroding trust, undermining relational accountability, and perpetuating a pattern of dismissive governance,” the Esquimalt Nation wrote.
The Songhees Nation said the school trustees’ behaviour was disrespectful and has “made it impossible to continue to develop respectful engagement and relationships.”
Special advisor Godden also stopped dealing with trustees.
As well, sa国际传媒 Conservative opposition critic Lynne Block said the board, which has 22 months left in its term, should be terminated and replaced by a trustee.
The board did get support from the Victoria Confederation of Parent Advisory Councils. It advised Beare that while it is neutral on the school police liaison officer issue, it supports the elected board and objects to the threat of termination.
That has prompted heated arguments from individual PACs that disagree with the stance. Beare and staff are now meeting with individual PACs as well as the board.
She told the confederation: “I am increasingly concerned about the reports and indications of governance challenges at the board.”
Just So You Know: A committee of trustees this week presented an updated policy on police questioning students in schools. It would forbid them except in emergency situations and outlines multiple steps to be taken by staff if police insist on doing so.
In addition to contacting parents, arranging for a lawyer or legal aid, and advising students of their rights, staff would also be required to “ensure the student is safe from violence, racially derogatory language or otherwise abusive treatment of the student by police.
“This includes, for instance, the student being kept safe from the use of strip searches at school.”
Chair Duncan said the policy is a high-priority issue and is urgently required. “The stakes are very high.”
It will be considered again next month.
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