Ottawa's largest school board officially cuts ties with police

Ottawa's largest school board will remove school resource officers from all of its schools following a nearly unanimous vote by the board of trustees Thursday.

There has been recent pushback against the 20-year-old school resource officer (SRO) program due to reports of a strained relationship between officers and some students and families.

Earlier this month, the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board (OCDSB) passed a motion to "immediately and completely" end the program after nearly a year of debate and public consultation.

The item was presented to the board of trustees for an official decision on Thursday night and during the meeting, all but one trustee voted in favour of the motion to remove resource officers from OCDSB schools.

Donna Blackburn, trustee for Barrhaven/Knoxdale-Merivale, was the only one whoopposed.

The board of trustees also voted to reduce its involvement with police to the minimum statutory requirement, and to issue apublic apology for all harm donebecause of the program.

The chair of the board will also write a letter to the City of Ottawa, its anti-racism secretariat and Ottawa police recommending the money saved from removing the SRO programbe redirected to student supports.

'We're not starting from zero'

"We have some of that infrastructure in place. There's a reason why our schools have social workers, why our schools have psychologists ... direct connections with community services," student trustee Joy Liusaid during the meeting, and prior to the vote.

Liu voted in favour of all the motions presented.

"You look at so many [incidents that involve an SRO] ... it's things like bullying, custody issues, cyberbullying, leaving home without permission, traffic safety and trespassing, even wellness checks," Lieu continued. "Even as I read those things upfront, for me the intuitive answer is not even to call an SRO."

"We're not starting from zero."

A social justice group,AsiluCollective that includescurrent and former Ottawa high school studentsrenewed its call earlier this monthto remove police officers from schools, saying their presence makes students of colour and those who are "gender-oppressed" feel scared and anxious.

Asilu's32-page reportincluded 125 student testimonialson the harm it saysthe SRO program poses to those groups.

"Gender-oppressed [students] have reported to Asilu that SROs reinforce a culture of sexual violence, where victims and survivors are shamed and silenced," said Hailey Dash, the group's co-founder.

In an email to CBCNews this month, Ottawa police saidit'sreceived no complaints from students,parents orschool administrators about anxiety over police presence inschools. The forcealso urged students to report any sexual misconduct.

"We work with the school board to provide a safe environment for reporting such incidents and every report is taken seriously by [police]," according to a statement.

A recent report from the school board's human rights and equity advisor identified a number of concerns identified byhigh school students, parents, staff and both current and past SROs assigned to two Ottawa schools.

The report noted "each consultation highlighted vivid examples where this policy has worsened the relationships of various stakeholders students, parents, and members of the wider community with the police."