Work on safety improvements started before provincially ordered review, school divisions say
CBC
The superintendent of a Manitoba school division where a student was attacked with a sword last year said several steps had already been taken to improve safety before the province ordered all divisions to review their safety plans.
But Brandon School Division superintendent Mathew Gustafson said it's always worth looking at what can be improved.
"Consequences can be high. So I think that creates that need to review it," Gustafson said Tuesday.
Last June, a teenage boy was arrested after a fellow student in Brandon's Neelin High School was seriously injured in a sword attack.
Then, in November, a convicted sex offender allegedly entered Winnipeg's Darwin School and grabbed a student in a bathroom at the elementary school, prompting the province to order all school divisions to review their safety plans and submit a report on them by Dec. 25.
A provincial spokesperson said this week all reports have been submitted.
Education Minister Tracy Schmidt said Tuesday she had no updates on the process at this time.
Divisions were ordered to look into how access is controlled at school entrances as part of the review.
Gustafson said his division has been working on improvements for several years. All Brandon schools either already had remote-controlled doors limiting access at all times, or were in the process of getting them, he said.
"There may need to be additional cameras or key card readers on some entrances," said Gustafson.
"We're also implementing a … real-time communication tool with drills or event reporting, emergency notifications or proximity notifications, and an SOS button for staff working alone."
Following the Neelin attack, the division established safety advisory committees, so parents would have more involvement in safety-related decisions. Gustafson said all their recommendations have been implemented so far.
"Our schools are safe," he said. "It doesn't mean that there are not incidents that happen and we've experienced that in Brandon."
The safety submission from Seine River School Division, south of Winnipeg, revolved around plans to roll out controls already present in some of its schools, said superintendent Colin Campbell.
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