Edmonton Public Schools will request an independent review of SRO program, investigate placement of officers with disciplinary history in schools
Lauren Boothby
© Darryl Dyck Edmonton Police Service school resource officer Const. Doug Green retrieves a treat for his one-year-old drug-sniffing dog Ebony after she located drugs hidden in a small electronic device during a demonstration of her skills at Harry Ainlay High School in Edmonton, Alta., on Jan. 10, 2005.
Edmonton Public Schools will request an independent review of the school resource officer program and an investigation into placement of officers with disciplinary histories in the program.
The board unanimously passed the motion Tuesday evening to ask a university researcher to do a literature review, environmental scan and qualitative analysis of the experiences of students and families with SROs and policing, “focusing on the experiences of Black, brown and Indigenous students” and students with disabilities. A motion to suspend the program pending review failed after votes tied 4-4.
The district also voted to ask the province to include anti-racism teaching in an updated curriculum and ask the province to include funds for anti-racism professional development for teachers.
Board chairwoman Trisha Estabrooks said at the meeting the SRO program has not been reviewed since it was brought into Edmonton Public Schools in 1979.
“That there are still so many questions about the SRO program, questions that we as a board are not able to answer, and so that is the reason why we need an independent review to happen,” she said.
“I think it is quite frankly shameful that we have not had an independent review of this program since its inception.”
But Estabrooks voted against suspending the program, saying there wasn’t evidence of wrongdoing, and she wanted to see what the review would find.
Other trustees echoed her views, including Cheryl Johner, who said she supported the review but not suspending it right now.
“In a court of law, you’re innocent until proven guilty,” she said. “It might be racist, I know there is racism, but I just feel that program does a lot of benefit and it’s not all bad … there’s probably some (SROs) that are stellar, and maybe some that are not so stellar. We have a process to determine that, I think there’s value in that.”
Ward G trustee Bridget Stirling, who brought forward the motion, said she doesn’t know that the district would continue working with any other partner if it is known they placed problematic workers in schools.
Stirling said they were made aware of problems years ago in a presentation by advocate and writer Bashir Mohamed. The board faced questions about the program in 2017 when Toronto public schools voted to cancel the program.
“I want to call attention to the fact that failure to act in evidence of harm is harm, and we have evidence of harm. Our communities have been bringing that evidence to us for years, we choose to not listen to them,” she said.
When it appeared it would not pass, she said voting against suspending the program is choosing not to listen to concerns from the community.
“I hope as we grapple with systemic racism, we’re also grappling with how systemic racism works among our own community,” Stirling said. “We’re not trying to be bad people, but it does shape our assumptions about whose stories we want to listen to and whose stories we don’t.”
Other trustees highlighted comments from principals and other educators, saying officers were an important part of schools and keeping students safe.
Of 21 speakers signed up to speak ahead of the SRO motion Tuesday, nearly all voiced opposition to the program, many saying it creates a school-to-prison pipeline , where often poor or racialized children are targeted for discipline , then funnelled from schools to the juvenile corrections and criminal justice system.
Many referred to research by Mohamed, and reiterated calls from Black Lives Matter Edmonton to get rid of the program.
Felice Lifshitz said her daughter, who is on the autism spectrum and struggles with mental health, had a “deeply and dramatically counterproductive” experience with an SRO.
She said her daughter had a meltdown and ran away from school, and the SRO put her in handcuffs and brought her back. She said he also threatened to charge her for assault because she was kicking and struggling while she was being handcuffed.
“But this year, she never attended school once, because she was too afraid that she would be charged by the school resource officer,” she said, later clarifying her daughter attended a few days of class. “She had more and more and more anxiety about the possibility of having to be … handcuffed by him, having to be thrown in the back of the van, or having to be charged by him.”
Edmonton Catholic Schools has said they aren’t currently reviewing the SRO program.
Edmonton Catholic board chairwoman Laura Thibert said Monday “our board is very supportive of the school resource officer program.”
Edmonton Public Schools will request an independent review of the school resource officer program and an investigation into placement of officers with disciplinary histories in the program.
The board unanimously passed the motion Tuesday evening to ask a university researcher to do a literature review, environmental scan and qualitative analysis of the experiences of students and families with SROs and policing, “focusing on the experiences of Black, brown and Indigenous students” and students with disabilities. A motion to suspend the program pending review failed after votes tied 4-4.
The district also voted to ask the province to include anti-racism teaching in an updated curriculum and ask the province to include funds for anti-racism professional development for teachers.
Board chairwoman Trisha Estabrooks said at the meeting the SRO program has not been reviewed since it was brought into Edmonton Public Schools in 1979.
“That there are still so many questions about the SRO program, questions that we as a board are not able to answer, and so that is the reason why we need an independent review to happen,” she said.
“I think it is quite frankly shameful that we have not had an independent review of this program since its inception.”
But Estabrooks voted against suspending the program, saying there wasn’t evidence of wrongdoing, and she wanted to see what the review would find.
Other trustees echoed her views, including Cheryl Johner, who said she supported the review but not suspending it right now.
“In a court of law, you’re innocent until proven guilty,” she said. “It might be racist, I know there is racism, but I just feel that program does a lot of benefit and it’s not all bad … there’s probably some (SROs) that are stellar, and maybe some that are not so stellar. We have a process to determine that, I think there’s value in that.”
Ward G trustee Bridget Stirling, who brought forward the motion, said she doesn’t know that the district would continue working with any other partner if it is known they placed problematic workers in schools.
Stirling said they were made aware of problems years ago in a presentation by advocate and writer Bashir Mohamed. The board faced questions about the program in 2017 when Toronto public schools voted to cancel the program.
“I want to call attention to the fact that failure to act in evidence of harm is harm, and we have evidence of harm. Our communities have been bringing that evidence to us for years, we choose to not listen to them,” she said.
When it appeared it would not pass, she said voting against suspending the program is choosing not to listen to concerns from the community.
“I hope as we grapple with systemic racism, we’re also grappling with how systemic racism works among our own community,” Stirling said. “We’re not trying to be bad people, but it does shape our assumptions about whose stories we want to listen to and whose stories we don’t.”
Other trustees highlighted comments from principals and other educators, saying officers were an important part of schools and keeping students safe.
Of 21 speakers signed up to speak ahead of the SRO motion Tuesday, nearly all voiced opposition to the program, many saying it creates a school-to-prison pipeline , where often poor or racialized children are targeted for discipline , then funnelled from schools to the juvenile corrections and criminal justice system.
Many referred to research by Mohamed, and reiterated calls from Black Lives Matter Edmonton to get rid of the program.
Felice Lifshitz said her daughter, who is on the autism spectrum and struggles with mental health, had a “deeply and dramatically counterproductive” experience with an SRO.
She said her daughter had a meltdown and ran away from school, and the SRO put her in handcuffs and brought her back. She said he also threatened to charge her for assault because she was kicking and struggling while she was being handcuffed.
“But this year, she never attended school once, because she was too afraid that she would be charged by the school resource officer,” she said, later clarifying her daughter attended a few days of class. “She had more and more and more anxiety about the possibility of having to be … handcuffed by him, having to be thrown in the back of the van, or having to be charged by him.”
Edmonton Catholic Schools has said they aren’t currently reviewing the SRO program.
Edmonton Catholic board chairwoman Laura Thibert said Monday “our board is very supportive of the school resource officer program.”
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