Trustees at York Region District School Board (YRDSB) passed a motion this week to potentially bring police officers back to schools after similar programs were paused five years ago. The motion directs YRDSB staff to work with York Regional Police and report back within six months on the School Resource Officer and Youth Engagement Officer programs. A previous iteration of the program was put on hold in 2021 as the board undertook a review to assess the “impact on the well-being and learning environments of all students.” A similar program was paused at the Peel District School Board in 2020. In 2017, the Toronto District School Board voted to end the School Resource Officer program, which was in place in some high schools for nearly a decade, after many students said they felt targeted and intimidated by the presence of police. “When this program was removed, we lost that consistent relationship between students, school staff, and police, and it took away another trusted adult that students could approach if they were unsafe, or if they were being abused, or at risk of human trafficking,” Trustee Robert Kolosowski, who put forward the motion, said at Tuesday’s meeting. “This is fundamentally about ensuring that our students have access to every reasonable resource that can be given to them to help protect them, keep them safe, and educate them. So I believe that by restoring the school resource officer program-that’s an important part of our responsibility-and I look forward to hearing more about that.” Last month, Ontario’s Ministry of Education told CTV News Toronto that it planned to bring back the program as a way to give students opportunities to build positive relationships with local police while also supporting safer schools and communities.
