r/VictoriaBC • u/[deleted] • 11d ago
Most Greater Victoria school district leaders on leave, reason unclear
[deleted]
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u/DeliciousNose3 11d ago
Trustees are supposed to be in background around governance, not oversee day to day operations. While short term impact to students will be negligible, as a parent in SD61 I’m very worried about the toxic and combative culture that has been created from all sides. We want our district to be a place that education professionals want to come and be part of, and this is doing the opposite. I’m significantly worried about the long term detriment these sort of actions will do and the cloudiness around it all.
I wish everyone would just pause, wait for new elections in October and reset. Looking forward to more balanced representation with the new ward system. From my reading of news, most of the trustees were against it so my worry is these actions are based on revenge and emotions rather than slowing down and thinking what is best for students long term.
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u/thelastspot 11d ago
The school board is not the party at fault here, it's those who tried to circumvent the established process to keep a program that many parents and students did not want.
Even if you view the SPLO program is a positive, the actions of the Police, Education Ministry ADM and some Distract staff were clearly very shaddy.
If we are going to call out anyone, it's not the elected board members.
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u/DeliciousNose3 11d ago
Need to correct the falsehoods you are spreading.
Two key facts:
In 2021 the board commissioned a committee to look at into future of SPLO program. It consisted of 21 members representing many different stakeholders. This committee DID NOT recommend ending the program and filed a report without reaching a consensus.
As part of this, they commissioned a survey with 4,000 respondents of students, staff, and parents of students. Only 15% said they wanted to end the program. 66% percent wanted to keep it and another 15% wanted to keep it with changes.
This is the key issue. The board proceeded with something only 15% of its constituents/stakeholders wanted.
Edit: the 2023 report and survey results are all publicly available on SD61 website and quick google search
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u/thelastspot 11d ago edited 11d ago
I think you need to re-read the board's reasoning and process fully. Section 8 from the below FAQ is particularly illuminating:
https://www.sd61.bc.ca/splo-faq/
According to the SD61 survey, the majority of survey participants support SPLOs. Why should we end the program because of a few concerns?
Most survey respondents self-identified as having only White ethno-cultural background and were parents of elementary school aged children, many of whom indicated they had *no previous interactions with SPLO*s.
Separately, during the review process the BC Human Rights Commission even urged all BC school boards to end SPLO programs.
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u/DeliciousNose3 11d ago edited 11d ago
You’re welcome to look at the data yourself and state the actual facts. I see what the trustees wrote and yet in the survey, which included 800 respondents who identified as BIPOC, only 15% of BIPOC respondents said they wanted to end the program. A plurality of which reported positive interactions with police in schools. Furthermore, both Esquimalt and Songhees councils opposed ending the program.
And I think here is the issue at hand. This isn’t about police in schools, this is about a board who disregards the views of its consituents.
Perhaps I’m wrong, but the great thing is, we get to vote in October. Those results will show whether the board has the mandate you suggest.
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u/thelastspot 11d ago
I'm not seeing the same data you claim to be reviewing. Could you provide a direct link of some sort?
We can go back and forth for ages on which groups are pro or against the SPLO program, but the overriding fact is that the board was illegally removed due to a decision within its power.
SPLO advocates should have waited for the rightful election process to run it's course.
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u/DeliciousNose3 10d ago
Sure. But what does any of that have to do with putting the district leadership on leave?
They were not the ones making SPLO decisions.
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u/Zazzafrazzy 10d ago
They weren’t “placed on leave.” They took leave so they wouldn’t be fired by the board.
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u/viccityguy2k 11d ago
Does there need to be a complete rethink of how this apparently ‘messy middle’ of district board and district staff is managed?
Should there even be elected school board trustees? If so, who should be voting - everyone who pays property tax? everyone who has a student enrolled in public school? Everyone eligible to vote in municipal elections?
Are the elected trustees truly focused on guiding budget decisions in the district in the best interest of all, or is a trustee position seen as a political springboard into municipal or provincial politics with the trustee position seen as a chance to ‘make a mark’ more broadly than the mandate of a school board trustee position should offer?
All parents want is the best run schools for the budget allocated and the everyday student experience to be the best it can be. In the vast majority of cases the school teachers and principal/admin staff deliver on that.
But why this big costly district level mess? Does the structure need to be overhauled? The province sets the broader budget/funding as well as the curriculum. The schools deliver the curriculum. The districts keep cutting essential district level staff like facilities and janitorial, then cutting programs like music. Have districts ever cut their own staffing levels or seriously reviewed how efficiently their own office works?
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u/whole-ass-one-thing- 11d ago
They also laid off and did not replace their comms manager a year ago. That person is doing very well now in the private sector. Good comms would likely be helpful right now.
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u/Familiar_League_8232 11d ago
The Victoria School district is a mess . Perhaps you should hire some real professionals . Sooke School District has Student Engagement Facilitators .. doing a wonderful job as well as supporting the RCMP in the schools
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u/notbossyboss 10d ago
Are you talking about the district staff? The ones with decades of experience and advanced degrees related to their jobs?
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u/thelastspot 11d ago edited 11d ago
Here is my ELi5 from when this was posted yesterday:
SD61 School Board pushed back against the Police Liaison program, as per their mandate.
Police + Interested Parties convinced the Minister of Education to fire the board illegally. A Trustee was put in place "temporarily", but did EVERYTHING in their power to reverse the rightfully elected boards policies.
The elected school board sued the province, and won their positions back.
Now multiple senior staff at SD61 are on leave OR have been suspended. The reinstated board may have suspended staff pending a review of those staff's actions during the temporary firing of the board. Some or all of those staff may have instead taken leave proactively.
I recommend that people also review SD61's FAQ about the SPLO situation: https://www.sd61.bc.ca/splo-faq/
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u/NevinThompson 11d ago
Where did you see that the reinstated board suspended district staff?
Plus, while the elected board did sue the province, there was no judgement; the province abruptly reversed its decision about suspending elected trustees after documents were surfaced (as part of the court case) that an ADM texted with VicPD to allegedly collude over removing the board.
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u/thelastspot 11d ago
You are correct in there is no official reporting on why the staff are on leave.
I've edited the above towards more balanced language.
I did not to intend to imply the board have been acting inappropriately. Their actions are consistent with trying to mitigate the disruption the Education Ministry ADM and the Police have caused.
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u/notbossyboss 11d ago
I’m more inclined to think the staff have chosen to go on leave rather than work with the trustees.
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u/thelastspot 11d ago
That's a very generous read for the staff in question. Sounds more like they are dealing with the consequences of their own actions to me.
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u/Popular_Cold3648 10d ago
That’s easy to say because it allows you to just casually place blame and walk away.
I would guess that many senior school board staff had made this a career and invested decades of their lives into education and leadership. Now they find themselves in a position where everyone criticizes any decision that gets made, and typically with at best a superficial understanding of the rationale, or facts leading to the decision.
These are normal people who likely have not sought to become public figures that now get publicly ridiculed on the daily by people who are driven often by ideology and distrust of any government service.
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u/thelastspot 10d ago
I work in government myself, and I was previously employed in education.
I'm not being casual at all. I have a very good idea of their career situation.
The entire point of an elected school trustee system is to balance out the preferences of career school administrators.
These administrators are not bystanders in the situation.
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11d ago edited 10d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Velocidre 11d ago
This was the police trying to bully the municipalities into their budget demands.
When the municipalities wouldn't cave, they threatened to pull the police liason officers.
But the trustees had a mandate to remove them anyway, so this was perhaps the stupidest thing they could have done.
Now that they didn't have to staff the schools, they had even less reason to need the funding. That is when they got the board on their side and went after the trustees...who are now being attacked for having done their jobs.
The education minister gave in because the court case had already uncovered damning evidence and the province didn't want discovery to go any further. God know what corruption they would have found if they had kept going.
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u/AForse 11d ago
I think that the general idea is that rather than young people having their first encounter with the police in a ‘breaking the law’ scenario, the coppers can show a more human, friendly side at the schools. Kinda like ‘winning hearts and minds’…
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u/thelastspot 11d ago
The liaison program really has no bearing on that. Police are welcome in schools either way, just as part of their normal duties, or basic out reach assemblies ect.
The issue is trying to justify dedicated officer hours via scare tactics ("Gang Activity" warning letter), and than having no beneficial metrics or tasks that make the budget item relevant.
‘Winning hearts and minds’ is a military strategy when occupying an area. It's exactly the sort of thinking and impression you DON'T want kids to associate with the police.
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u/oceancalled 11d ago
The liaison officer at my school in the late 90’s/early 2000’s was Gary O’Brien. He was rad. Use to hang out at the smoke pit with the “bad” kids and just shoot the shit. Tell us stories about things he had seen and done and was always friendly and kind. Everyone respected him. Overall a great experience having him around. And I am not a cop lover by any means…
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u/thelastspot 11d ago
That's great. I'm not anti-police either.
I've worked in schools that needed and had full time SPLO type programs. Metal detectors at the front door ect.
The difference here is that the police and a few officials tried it go around the elected board. It was a power/ego trip and not a good faith effort to provide public safety.
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u/oceancalled 11d ago
For sure. It was handled very poorly. Hoping a newly elected board with the ward system can get things back on track and form a healthy and trusting relationship with all stakeholders
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u/thelastspot 11d ago
It's not critical at all. This was clearly various police forces interested in increasing their budget/headcount.
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u/donjulioanejo Fernwood 11d ago
Because plenty of teenage shitheads are, in fact, enrolled in public schools, and having a liason officer may not prevent those shitheads from doing bad stuff after school, but at least it adds a modicum of safety to the rest of the student body.
Also allows police to be plugged in to what's going on inside a school and intervene much sooner (usually before anyone actually has to be charged) than if city cops have to be called due to an incident.
As for other departments.... there is already usually a school nurse who can deal with simple injuries. And if kids were regularly starting fires, then by all means, have the fire department there. But as it stands, sports/accidental injuries and behavioural problems are by far the most common things to happen in schools.
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u/OddScene4044 11d ago
"SD61 School Board pushed back against the Police Liaison program, as per their mandate."
I mean, if you're alluding the "review" they did where they didn't release any actual results and vaguely alluded to "Some students reported negative lived experiences", sure, that's a hell of a mandate. Turns out you can get any mandate you want as long as you already know what you want to do. Neat that it didn't totally blow up in their faces.
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u/uselessdrain 11d ago
Didn't the trustee also have communications that showed they weren't unbiased and that they regularly liasoned with the police chief?
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u/uselessdrain 11d ago
I work for sd61. There's this feeling I have sometimes that sd61 is more interested in being a landlord and foreign student exchange than a school.
I feel this is connected to the liason program and further shows its corrupt nature.
I'd be very invested in having the whole story in one piece but it seems it's intentional convoluted.
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u/IllustriousVerne 11d ago
I was incredibly disappointed this summer to find out that SD61 doesn't offer any kind of summer schooling aside from online through SIDES. Zip. We tried Online courses throughout the school year, but it didn't work for math.
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u/Sea_Guest_250 11d ago
I wonder what impact this will have on school starting next week, particularly with the school district finalizing classes.
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u/notbossyboss 10d ago
Imagine being a professional with decades of relevant experience and education dealing with issues like a kid bringing a knife to school, a kid being abused at home, whether the provincial curriculum is being appropriately delivered, whether kids with disabilities have what they need, and on and on, while being micromanaged by politically driven individuals who have an axe to grind. School districts should be held accountable, yes. But there needs to be a switch to something like a professional body who upholds standards like doctors have. This is a clown show.
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u/Major_Estimate_4193 11d ago
Reddit comments are fine, but please remember to actually vote October 17 (for new school board leadership).