Report opens door to return of police officers to area schools

School trustees are being tight-lipped about a proposal to bring back a paused program – heavily revamped – and test putting police officers back in schools.

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Recommendations go to both area school boards for approval, including the Thames Valley District school board Tuesday.

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“A committee of the board of trustees will be receiving the report this week through senior administration involved with the community-led review of the school resource officer program,” said Thames Valley chair Beth Mai in an email to The Free Press. “You will receive more information to report to your readers when it becomes available.”

In June 2020, trustees unanimously endorsed a plan to pause the program and review the role of school resource officers amid the Black Lives Matter movement, sparked by the death of Minneapolis man George Floyd.

Floyd, who was Black, died after a white Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes.

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Established in 2008, the school resource officer program had been criticized by activists and community groups who said officers in classrooms and hallways made some students feel uncomfortable and even intimidated.

The review, based on one-on-one interviews with students, found the presence of the officers “is triggering or retraumatizing for some students and makes it difficult for some students to be at school.”

“Some students, parents and graduates shared traumatic experiences with police and resource officers,” the review said.

The review recommends the program be paused or stopped until significant changes are made based on the recommendations, it said.

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“This next year, the school resource officers would work with school boards and community leaders to implement the recommendations,” he said.

Mark Adkinson, a spokesperson for the London District Catholic school board, said the board, will share more information on how the recommendations will affect its secondary schools in early 2024.

“The review recommends co-ordinating with local police services to pilot a new approach of police in schools for non-emergency situations,” he said.

The London District Catholic board took part in the review with the Thames Valley board, local police services and community leaders from Indigenous, Black and people-of-color communities.

At the center of the new report, prepared by the Center for Organizational Effectiveness, is the recommendation for a pilot program that would include a detailed implementation plan at a “family of schools, as well as in a rural context.”

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Key recommendations of the report:

• Schools need to focus on their own work on addressing racism.
• Policing needs to implement more relational, reflective representation in community policing in addition to police in schools.
• Relationship-building needs to happen in communities.
• Parents and caregivers also should be involved in providing feedback.
• Clarity on what police officers in schools would be doing is essential.
• Consider starting in one school and the surrounding community and testing it out.

School resource officers also would have to complete anti-racism and other training at the beginning of the school year, as well as orientation sessions with school administration regarding the new model and approach to the program.

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Schools at both the Thames Valley and London District Catholic school board will be asked to complete a readiness assessment, as well as police services “as a sign of their commitment to the voice of youth and the model developed for the presence of police at schools in non-emergency situations,” the report said.

Also, the role of school police officers in the revamped program is to work in partnership with the school community and create a culture of safety, it said.

“Leading with humility and humanity while adopting an approach of listening for understanding is paramount,” the report said.

The proposed new role of school community officer:

• Providing outreach at community events by greeting and engaging with students.
• Greeting and engaging with students in schools.
• Attending parent council meetings.
• Participating in school planned educational activities such as Truth and Reconciliation Day.
• Attending extra-curricular activities such as sporting events, school plays, and cultural events, as well as coaching school teams.

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