Toronto school board says no safety concerns despite 2 stabbings

CTV Toronto: School safety questioned Many are questioning the safety of Toronto schools in the wake of a second school stabbing. Naomi Parness reports.

Questions are being raised about safety at two Toronto schools after two people were injured in stabbings in the first month of classes.

On the first day of school, a 19-year-old was stabbed in the lung and the hand while on the property of Central Technical School. Police said he was injured as he tried to break up a robbery.

Just two weeks later, officers were called to George S. Henry Academy on Wednesday when a high school student was stabbed on the property at lunchtime. A second student turned himself in later in the day, and was charged in connection to the incident.

The day after the stabbing at George S. Henry, police and social workers were on campus speaking to students about the incident.

"Everyone should feel safe about going to this school, everyone should feel safe about going to all schools," Toronto District School Board spokesperson Shari Schwartz Maltz said Thursday.

She told CTV Toronto's Naomi Parness that it has an interest in increasing the number of officers in schools, but Toronto police said they have no current plans for an increase.

A spokesperson told CTV that there aren't enough officers or enough money to add to security, though police are reviewing cases where police oversee multiple high schools.

George S. Henry Academy has a designated resource officer, but he oversees other schools, and wasn't there when the stabbing happened.

A CTV News investigation last November showed weapons-related suspensions at Toronto public schools had nearly doubled in the past year.

The data, obtained by a Freedom of Information request, showed there had been 14 weapons-related suspensions at George S. Henry since 2009. At Central Tech, the school with the highest number of suspensions, there were 51.

Weapons were defined as any article used or intended to be used for the purpose of threatening, intimidating or injuring a person. All firearms, including replicas and imitations, were also considered weapons.

With a report from CTV Toronto's Naomi Parness