Lisa Beare is open to taking "any steps necessary," including the potential dismissal of the Greater Victoria School Board if an approved safety plan isn't in place when students return to SD 61 schools on Jan. 6, 2025.
The cancellation of the School Police Liaison Officer (SPLO) program by the Greater Victoria School District (SD61) in May of 2023 has been a contentious issue criticized by the chiefs of the Esquimalt Nation and Songhees Nation. The cancellation garnered controversy in part when local police departments started reporting an increase in gang recruitment in 2024 in Greater Victoria schools from Lower Mainland-based gangs.
The Minister of Education and Child Care has now appointed a special advisor because the lack of a safety plan approved by all stakeholders including the Nations and four area police chiefs can not continue.
"There are 60 districts in this province, and I am not having this conversation with 59 other districts," Beare said. "There is a version of police presence in every other school district in this province, and it is uniquely tailored to each district; it does not have to be an SLPO."
Effective immediately, Beare appointed special advisor Kevin Godden, a former superintendent of the Abbotsford School District to help co-create the plan in collaboration with the board, Victoria, Oak Bay and Saanich police departments as well as the West Shore RCMP, and the Songhees and Esquimalt First Nations.
If the Greater Victoria School Board fails to deliver a safety plan that Beare "can approve" or work with the special advisor, the Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows MLA would be forced to look at all options available to her, including the potential to "replace the board with an administrator."
The advisor's $55,000 contract will be covered by the board, which has approximately one month to deliver a plan that covers municipalities including Victoria, Esquimalt, Oak Bay, View Royal and parts of Saanich and Highlands for approximately 20,000 students
"It is evidence it is a breakdown in relationships and communications," Beare said of the lack of a safety plan approved by the stakeholders thus far, and not in line with keeping students and staff safe.
"When we see increased violence in schools student to student, when we see increased gang activity, when we see a decrease in reports of sexualized violence, when we see students as young as grade 5 bringing weapons to school," Beare continued. "You know, these are key indicators that we have a safety problem in the school that is not being proactively met."
Victoria Police Chief Del Manak said he was pleased with Beare's announcement and disappointed in the Greater Victoria School Board's communications especially with the Songhees and Esquimalt Nations.
"The school district had failed what the Indigenous chiefs wanted, which is meaningful collaboration and a voice at the table," Manak said. "And I think it speaks volumes in where we’re at."
He noted that the chief's positions have been consistent with what he's been hearing from BIPOC communities and the parents of students in schools about the rise of worrisome behaviour in schools.
“To have that position that we might see (concerning behaviour) in our community, but our schools are absolutely safe, (and) where the police don’t really need to be... That really doesn’t involve a lot of forward-thinking," he said. "And is not really coming from a trauma-informed approach."
- with files from Bailey Seymour and Liam Razzell
