Waterloo Catholic board used school resource officers to handle student mental health issues, tantrums: review

The Waterloo Catholic District School Board's use of police has been under scrutiny in recent weeks, after news broke that police were called to John Sweeney Catholic Elementary School last fall to deal with a four-year-old student's behaviour.

But months before that case made headlines, the board faced criticism about its reliance on police from another source: school resource officers (SROs) who felt the Catholic board's administrators were taking advantage of them to deal with problems they could have been solving on their own.

That's according to a review of the SRO program that was presented to the board last June. In it, administrators praised the officers for becoming a valued part of their administration team and said they relied "heavily" on them for advice in dealing with situations at school.

But, the review found, not all SROs felt this was a good thing.

"They shared that because they have become a familiar part of the school community and are seen as part of the administrative team, school administrators have taken advantage of them," said the report from Turner Consulting Group, which specializes in workplace equity and helps school boards develop anti-racism policies and curriculum.

"[They] have brought them in for things that the school administrators should be handling themselves or using other board resources for, including school discipline, violations of the code of conduct, mental health issues and even students having temper tantrums."

SRO programs are negotiated between local police services and school boards, and are not mandated by the Ministry of Education. Resource officers haven't been in the local Catholic board since June 2020, when regional police "halted" the program, a board representative said in an email. 

While the program was active, SROs in Waterloo region had a range of responsibilities, from making classroom presentations, to enforcing the law, to helping students access community resources.

The report noted resource officers, rather than teachers or administrators, had helped students get in touch with guidance counselors, social workers and other community resources — though again, the officers themselves didn't always think this was the best use of their time. 

"There have been times when they have been called by school administrator[s] and have had to tell them that the issue is not a police issue and that perhaps they should be contacting a school social worker or other school resources," said the report.

It went on to say that SROs felt they could have better focused on the proactive side of their jobs if they weren't being called into schools to deal with things "that school staff or a community agency could be handling." 

Six then-current resource officers, and two former ones, were interviewed as part of the report. It isn't clear exactly how many shared the opinion that the administration was taking advantage of them. 

Feedback from other members of regional police, school board staff, administration, community members and students was also included in the report, which is available in full online. 

CBC KW requested interviews with the Waterloo Regional Police Service and the Waterloo Catholic District School Board for this story. Both organizations declined, citing a provincial review of the incident at John Sweeney that is underway.