School board representatives and police from across the region met recently to sign an updated protocol to ensure the safety of students and the community.
The meeting, which was held at the Simcoe County District School Board Education Centre in Midhurst, was to sign the updated protocol, which was originally put into place in 2001.
The Simcoe County protocol became the template for all other Ontario school boards and was developed to ensure that boards and local police services met requirements of the Safe Schools Act, the Education Act, and the Police Services Act.
Barrie Police Chief Kimberley Greenwood said the protocol has been in effect for almost a couple of decades and it was time to review it and ensure it was up to date and modernized.
“This is just a highlight, once again, of the importance of working together to ensure our communities are safe,” said Greenwood. “Our schools are a place where young people in our community go for education, but they also go for personal development as they prepare to enter adulthood.”
Greenwood says that even when there isn’t major changes needed, the protocol is a good step to make sure everyone knows their role in a situation and how to act on it.
“The sections have responsibilities and roles for each of the respective areas,” said the chief. “We need to fine tune them to make sure that it meets with changes in legislation, such as that to do with youth and criminal code, cannabis and the overall responsibilities so we all understand each of our roles.”
Police services represented included Barrie, Central Region OPP, Rama and South Simcoe. School boards that had representatives singing the protocol were the Simcoe Muskoka Catholic District School Board, Conseil scolaire Viamonde, Conseil scolaire catholique MonAvenir, and the Simcoe County District School Board.
Simcoe County District School Board director of education Steve Blake said the effects of the protocol reach beyond the walls of the local schools.
“We truly appreciate our strong and effective partnerships with our police service partners,” Blake said. “Students and our broader communities benefit from the many programs that resource officers facilitate to promote safety.”
