Lakeland Catholic School District (LCSD) board of trustees learned all about what the School Resource Officers (SRO) offer their students.
”Our whole mission is to just interact with the students. Any way that we can get interacting with the students is good for us... The bottom line is we’re just trying to get into the classroom, meet the kids, and get them used to us.”
Chris Garner, director of public safety for the MD of Bonnyville, made a presentation outlining what’s currently offered through the programs and their plans for the next school year on Wednesday, June 19.
As a result of the Keeping Communities Safe report issued by the Alberta government in 2007, the municipality looked into one of the recommendations that suggested students should have access to an SRO.
Garner noted the province was surprised to learn a program wasn’t already in place for the area.
”In the cities, it’s very common to have a SRO in your school. In fact, in the cities, a SRO is designated to each school full-time in most cases.”
In 2008, the MD held meetings with local school boards, the RCMP, and different groups to come up with the structure that would be implemented for the 2009/10 school year.
Choosing who would fill the positions was an extensive process, according to Garner.
”We didn’t just take a peace officer who’s been pulling cars over and doing traffic work. We actually looked for people that we felt would be good as an SRO, so we actually opened up the positions and directly hired people for those roles,” he continued.
The $250,000 cost for the project is covered entirely by the MD.
Currently, there are two SROs who work in 23 local schools for LCSD, Northern Lights Public Schools (NLPS), and Conseil Scolaire Centre-Est on a full-time basis.
”Basically, what we try to do is to have the same officer work in schools that flow into each other,” Garner said, adding that it doesn’t always work out, but it’s the goal they set for themselves in order to build relationships with students throughout their education.
Based on the school curriculum, the program was developed with individual sessions and presentations to address topics for the different grades. A binder outlining everything offered is handed out to local schools at the beginning of every year.
”It kind of gives them a little bit of a run down as to what we can do,” explained Garner. “There’s not everything in there, because sometimes we create a presentation based on a particular issue, but at the beginning of the year, it has the basics of what we’re going to do.”
If a problem arises during the school year, teachers can request the SRO address it.
”An of example of that would... be when sexting became something that students do, we had to jump on that pretty quick to get an awareness,” noted Garner.
SROs are also available to participate in school visits, field trips, and meetings with staff, parents, and parent councils, among others.
Trustee Vicky Lefebvre commended the SROs for succeeding in their goal to integrate themselves into the schools.
”I was at a function, one of your resource officers was there and the kids were just hanging all over her. They just totally accepted her as part of the school,” she said. “Certainly, she was part of the program and part of the school.”
New items offered this year included self defence classes for high school girls, improving mental health awareness, and one of the officers coaching parts of Notre Dame High School’s sports teams.
Garner noted they’re looking to expand one of their programs called Peace Patrol, which focuses on leadership, public speaking, and developing communications skills in Grade 4, along with developing sessions for middle school boys.
”We’ll be doing some things around respectful interactions, confidence building, and positive behaviours for the boys.”
At the end of June, a meeting is held to review the programs to see what needs to be changed, what can be removed, and if there’s a topic that should be added. Garner said the summer is used to research and update sessions and to do maintenance on equipment or purchase more if required.
