hi is my camera on yes your camera and we can hear you okay great i can't see myself but i can see you thank you so much uh for the opportunity to present tonight um and as uh trustee young just said i'd like to talk about the school school liaison officer program uh the review that was kind of quietly included in the may 13th policy and governance committee meeting i think it's important that this review be highlighted and considering the significant opposition that there's been to this program in the past as trustees know the slo program was cancelled in june of 2021 following deep concerns expressed by parents community members and organizations especially black indigenous and racialized communities many felt that the presence of police in schools made some students feel less safe And then in 2021, the Argyll report found that Black and Indigenous students had particularly negative perceptions of and experiences with the SLO program. At that time, communities called for resources to be redirected towards supports like counselors, youth workers, and community-led programs. So to address this, as you know the safe and caring schools program was introduced and this program focused on prevention well-being and social emotional supports in place of policing um however after the 2022 election when a number of trustees were elected with a pro-policing orientation the slo program was reinstated with a few changes and then last year nine youth worker positions were eliminated from the safe and caring schools program And of course, this significantly weakened the supports that would help students to stay engaged in schools and connected with their communities without becoming police involved. Now, the new evaluation that's come out is meant to assess the effectiveness of the reinstated program.

All right, I'll just backtrack a little bit. So the new evaluation report is meant to assess the effectiveness of the reinstated program, and it claims that negative perceptions have significantly improved. My concern is around the claim that negative views of the SLO program among Black students have gone from 60 to 12% and among Indigenous students from 33 to 6%. So I have some concerns about how these conclusions were reached. The survey results are based on very small numbers. Only 29 black students and 16 indigenous students were responded to the survey. Indigenous students represent 4% of the VSB population, but only 2% of the respondents identified as indigenous. And the report itself admits that it did a poor job of engaging indigenous learners. So this points, I think, to a big problem with the methodology. If the communities most affected by the program are not meaningfully represented in its evaluation, it's difficult to accept the conclusion that perceptions of the SLO program have improved so dramatically. I'm also concerned that the report reads less like an objective evaluation and more like a promotion of the SLO program. It focuses heavily on perceptions of majority and non-racialized students and staff. and it really kind of overlooks the larger issues that were raised in 2021 systemic racism policing in schools and the harm experienced by black and indigenous students so at best i think this report should be considered to be incomplete and i hope trustees ask for a more targeted and inclusive investigation one that does a better job of seeking input of students whose voices are currently missing I also want to acknowledge that some may see the SLO program as providing good, important opportunities for intervention, but this is really difficult to reconcile with the trustees decision last year to cut nine youth worker positions. These are staff who were specifically trained to support students' social and emotional needs. So I'd like to ask trustees, do you think the report actually addresses the concerns that were raised by communities in 2021 and again in 2022? It's clear to me that at that time, communities expressed that schools need counselors, youth workers and educators, not police, to create safe and supportive environments. And then I'll just leave with a few questions that trustees might want to pursue. So will trustees ask staff to follow up with the students who were underrepresented so that their voices can be heard? Will trustees consider advocating for resources to be redirected from policing towards supports that students actually need? And will communities be invited to weigh in on the program considering the deep concerns that were expressed about the program in the past? So, I don't know if broader communities were informed about this review, or if they were given an opportunity to weigh in, but I think it's on trustees to request the staff. These these communities are given the opportunity to have input. Okay, thank you for your time.

To finish is that that's it? That's it. Yeah. Thanks.