Police say that out of 424 calls to schools in the Halifax area, only 77 resulted in charges
After staff members were stabbed at a Halifax school this week, teachers and support staff say more safety measures need to be put in place.
Two people who work at Charles P. Allen High School are in the hospital and are in critical but stable condition. In connection with the event, a 15-year-old student is facing 11 charges, including attempted murder.
Ann Marie Danch, who has worked as an educational program assistant for 20 years, said, “There is a lot of violence in schools right now, and I don’t think people know what school is like.”
Halifax Regional Police have been called to schools or areas near schools 424 times since 2018 because of violent incidents involving students, police data shows. In 77 of those cases, charges were brought.
Most of the calls were about threats or “assaults that were not happening at the time.” Thirteen of the 48 calls about weapons led to charges.
Danch said, “We have [educational program assistants] who have been in the hospital for a long time because students have hurt them so badly.”
“We shouldn’t be afraid to go to work, but a lot of the time we are,” he said.
In 2018, there were 183 violent incidents near or at schools. This is the most in the last five years. This kind of thing happened a lot less in 2020, probably because a lot of students learned at home.
“I’ve been kicked, bitten, punched, and had my hair pulled out. This year, a student actually hit me in the breast, “said Latisha Levering, who works with the educational program.
‘A teacher’s worst fear
After what happened on Monday, the head of the Nova Scotia Teachers Union says they have to look into how schools can be made safer.
Ryan Lutes said in an interview, “I think this is a teacher’s and a parent’s worst fear, that something like this could happen.”
Lutes, who is also a high school teacher, says that the union and province should look into what services can be put in place to stop students from acting like this.
“What wasn’t in place to stop this from happening? You know, what kind of mental health and social safety net supports do our schools and social systems need to offer that maybe aren’t there now?”
Lutes says that the union wants to be a part of any talks the province might have about making schools safer.
Improving safet
Nova Scotia’s education minister says it’s too early to say what specific changes will be made to make schools safer because they are still waiting for the police investigation.
Becky Druhan told reporters on Tuesday, “An investigation is going on in the school to find out exactly what happened, and the work we will do with the department to look at this situation and other information will help us figure out what steps to take next to make sure our schools are as safe as they can be.”
Druhan wouldn’t say if the Department of Education would think about putting metal detectors in schools to stop students from bringing weapons inside.
Levering thinks that putting back school liaison police officers would have an effect right away.
“Because they can usually stop it before it starts,” she said.
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