CANOE -- CNEWS - Canada: Guns, sex assaults plauge T.O. schools

CANOE -- CNEWS - Canada: Guns, sex assaults plauge T.O. schools
Guns, sex assaults plauge T.O. schools

TDSB panel calls for metal detectors in wake of report

By SARAH GREEN, SUN MEDIA

The Toronto Sun




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There are an alarming number of guns in Toronto schools and sex assaults are increasing at a "disturbing" rate with the vast majority going unreported, an advisory panel probing school safety found in its report yesterday.

The panel -- struck by the Toronto District School Board following last May's shooting death of 15-year-old Jordan Manners in a hallway of C.W. Jefferys C.I. -- called installing metal detectors at Toronto's 150 high schools "extraordinarily expensive," but recommended the use of gun detection dogs to sniff out weapons in hallway lockers.

Lawyer Julian Falconer, who headed the panel, said the money used to buy metal detectors, at the cost of up to $25,000 each, would come at the expense of youth workers, extra-curricular activities and other badly needed prevention programs.

'NO GUARANTEE'

"It is not investing in (students) to buy metal detectors," he said. "It is a quick fix with no guarantee of a solution."

Students at C.W. Jefferys and neighbouring Westview Centennial painted a disturbing picture of weapons and sexual violence in their hallways in surveys for the panel.

Nearly 23% of students at Westview said they knew someone who brought a gun to school in the past two years. Similarly, 21% said they knew at least one student who had been sexually assaulted at school, and 29 students said they had been the victim of a major sexual assault.

The vast majority of students at both schools said they didn't report crimes involving them or other students to staff or police.

Falconer stressed guns and sexual assaults are not only a Jane-Finch problem.

Of 125 weapons incidents, robberies and sexual assaults reported at Toronto schools in the last two years, only five were at Jane-Finch schools, the panel found. It acknowledged many incidents in those schools go unreported.

"Nothing can be further from the truth that this is a problem involving black kids at Jane and Finch. That's simply and utterly a myth," Falconer said.

He called sexual assaults a "sad reality" at Toronto schools and the report found the board's sexual violence policies are "deficient," with school staff lacking the training to deal with assaults.

"We have failed young women and girls in our schools. We are not protecting them," Falconer said.

The panel -- which held a moment of silence for Manners before detailing its findings -- was also critical of the "utterly failed" Safe Schools Act, saying punishing marginalized students does nothing to motivate them.

"We suspend in droves. It fails," Falconer said. "Jordan Manners died on May 23, 2007, out of flat neglect. There were insufficient supports in place to encourage him to make better choices."

The panel also cited a "culture of silence and fear" which prevents school and board staff from speaking out on safety issues.

Falconers said there should be a "legal requirement" for school staff to report guns and other incidents while offering them "whistleblower-type protection" from reprisals.

Gerry Connelly, TDSB director of education, said the board will analyze the panel's 126 recommendations, but stressed work in many areas is already underway.

Among the board's initiatives is a 24-hour Student Safeline, to be launched as a six-month pilot project, where students can anonymously report violence, intimidation, assaults and weapons.

"We've made much progress, but there remains a lot to be done," Connelly said.

Education Minister Kathleen Wynne, a former Toronto trustee, said that in her experience the pervasive culture in TDSB schools is not one of violence and fear as described by the report.

'MORE OPTIMISTIC'

"I'm much more optimistic about publicly funded education in Toronto than that would suggest," Wynne said.

However, she said that it is unacceptable if any child or adult is scared to speak up.

She said the government has overhauled the provincial Safe Schools Act, criticized in the report as unhelpful and punitive, and those changes will take effect on Feb. 1.

Police Chief Bill Blair said he had not yet reviewed the panel's recommendations.

"Anything we can do to make our schools safe, I'm prepared to look very seriously at, but I would also emphasize that there's been a tremendous amount of work done with our partners in the school system -- students and faculty and the school boards," he said