Board develops new 'police officers in schools' program
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Police officers will be able to engage with students in a variety of ways under a new program developed by the Grand Erie District School Board.
The program, called Police Resource Outreach Supporting Education (PROSE), focuses on community building through a range of activities including classroom presentations. It was presented to the board at a meeting in June.
“We look forward to collaboratively launching Police Resource Outreach Supporting Education in September 2023 as our plans with Brantford Police Services and the OPP are underway,” Dave Smouter, the board’s manager, communication and community relations, said in a statement. “The programs will be aligned with the curriculum.
“Learning students are already engaged in will be enhanced by the specific expertise police representatives can bring to support. “
Smouter said the board looks forward to the positive impact the program can have on student learning through efforts to align programs with curriculum.
Under the new program, police officers may be invited to participate in school events including assemblies, track meets, open houses as well as games, music and drama clubs. Officers will also be able to informally drop-in to interact with students during break times, the report says.
Other activities involving police officers could include campaigns for canned food, winter clothing and back-to-school supplies, as well as bike rodeos.
The new program includes yearly in-service training for PROSE officers and school staff through the “lens of human rights and equity”.
The new program was developed in conjunction with a review of the High School Resource Officer program which ran in both the public and Catholic high schools for many years.
The Grand Erie board put the high school resource officer program on hold during the COVID-19 pandemic. In March 2023, the public board announced a review of the program.
“The review was consultative and has had input from a variety of stakeholders and we feel that we have been able to achieve a balanced approach,” Smouter said. “We will continue to work closely with the police services supporting the various regions of the Grand Erie District School Board.”
During the review, uniformed police officers on at least a couple of occasions, were prevented from entering Grand Erie schools.
The issue made headlines in May after it was reported that a Grand Erie school board superintendent told an OPP officer, who is also the parent of a student, that he couldn’t attend career day.
The officer/parent was reportedly told that immigrant and refugee children often have had bad experiences with police and encountering one in the classroom might traumatize them.
The board apologized for the incident and said it was a miscommunication. It also said, as part of its apology, that officers were welcome in schools “in uniform or not.”
A spokesperson for the Brantford Police Association was reviewing the board’s report and unable to provide a comment to the Expositor prior to publication.
The review included, among other things, interviews with teachers, students as well as police officers and focus groups.
Student focus groups found, among other things, that:
- The majority of the students reported that they felt that an SRO (school resource officer) would contribute to school safety. Many wanted SROs to help resolve issues such as theft, drug use, fights, vandalism, and vaping in the washrooms.
- A number shared that SROs would only be effective if the right person was in the role and that the person was “approachable,” “kind,” and “had a positive vibe.”
- The students shared their concern that if the “right” person wasn’t hired into the role, it would harm the school climate and pose barriers to attendance for some students.
- A number of students shared that there would be a need for SROs to have appropriate training so that they were supporting marginalized students, rather than contributing to the bullying and marginalization that some already experience. They felt that it would help if the officers in the role were from Indigenous, racialized, and other marginalized backgrounds.
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