Why we need School Resource Officers and must move away from "progressive" school discipline policies.
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As school board trustees we will
advocate for the following:
- Public school safety and discipline benefit from the visible presense of school resource officers (SRO) sometimes called school liaison officers (SLO). These programs bring police into local schools to participate in events related to public safety, to provide education on a variety of topics and to offer direct support of law enforcement within the school. It is worth noting that the same police officer(s) are assigned to each school. This allows them to get to know the school/students, and thus intervene in ways that are most effective. We will advocate for such programs within our public schools.
- We will advocate for the return and liberal use of suspensions and expulsions as required to restore a culture of discipline in our public schools. These measures will be applied without regard to a students racial or ethnic identity. Tracking of suspensions and explusions in terms of students identities will cease as these metrics have led to false accusations of "systemic" or "stuctural" racism being the root cause of discrepancies which we reject. All students will be held responsible for their behaviour with the goal of increasing classroom safety and a culture of respect in the classroom.
We reject any assertion that the "Thin Blue Line" flag is a racist or white supremacist symbol noting that we strongly oppose both. The flag represents a tribute to police officers who have fallen in the line of duty. It further represents the fine line we ask our officers to walk daily between maintaining public order and lawless chaos. As a shown of respect and support, we will advocate to have the "Thin Blue Line" flag flown at public schools any time a police officer is killed in the line of duty anywhere in Canada for a period of not less than one week.
Text of the Ottawa Carelton District School Board Motion on Police Involvement in Schools.
To see the results of what this motion has since done to OCDSB schools click here.
