Review committee recommends ending School Resource Officer program at local public schools
Posted Jun 21, 2021 06:25:00 PM.
The Waterloo District School Board will take a hard look at the School Resource Officer program Monday evening, with recommendations that are much more hard-line than those of the Waterloo Catholic District School Board.
In a report prepared by Trustee Karen Meissner and Superintendent Peter Rubenschuh in consultation with the Ad Hoc School Resource Officer Review Committee, the board is being advised to immediately end the School Resource Program entirely. It will also be advised to issue a public apology to Black, Indigenous, and Racialized students, and review school-police protocol through an anti-racist, anti-oppressive and equitable lens.
“There is a moral obligation to ensure this process offers our students dignity, care, safety, and respect,” said the report in part. “The review committee felt that it was unethical to require our Black, Indigenous, and racialized students to undergo an extended consultation process which required them to relive their trauma and prove the validity of their fear when so much compelling data is already available. “
That data is listed in the report, which you can read here. It begins on page 182.
The board will also hear recommendations to write a letter to the Region of Waterloo, requesting that the money previously used toward the program be reallocated to community-based services for youth.
“If we are truly committed to truth and reconciliation and the eradication of racism and oppression for all of our students, then we must start by developing trust,” said the report. “Trust has been broken and Black, Indigenous, and racialized communities are hurting, grieving, and experiencing the impacts of systemic racism which includes the presence of policing in our schools. “
The Waterloo Catholic District School Board is still reviewing the program, which is on pause. Staff recommended redesigning the program using student input, especially from racialized, Black and Indigenous students.
