The situation with the transitional shelter operating near Central Middle School is downright scary, not because of any threat from homeless people, but because of the amount of money the Greater Victoria School District wants to throw at problems that have not happened.
As the first of 40 residents moved into the My Place Transitional Home set up in the former Boys and Girls Club, across Yates Street from Central Middle School, the Greater Victoria School District estimated it will be on the hook for nearly $44,000 in extra costs over the next four months.
The estimated costs include $18,700 for a custodian to check the school grounds before and after school, $17,000 for two crossing guards at the school鈥檚 Yates Street crosswalk, $4,250 for added security and $4,000 for administrative costs.
If that鈥檚 how the school district handles public money, we have reason to be concerned. Why couldn鈥檛 the school鈥檚 current custodial staff take a few minutes to check the grounds? Why add two crossing guards to the mix, when neither the number of students nor the amount of vehicle traffic will change?
Our Place Society, the social agency operating the shelter, will provide security from 6 a.m. to midnight to ensure residents obey the rules. As Mayor Lisa Helps has suggested, that security detail could help with the cleanup of school grounds. The police department could assign a patrol car to keep an eye on things at the beginning and the end of the school day without incurring extra costs.
At a community meeting Dec. 30 at the Boys and Girls Club, parents, school officials and residents of the neighbourhood expressed concerns about the shelter鈥檚 proximity to the school, worrying about needles being discarded on school grounds and drug dealers preying on the shelter鈥檚 residents.
Those are legitimate concerns that should not be dismissed. The safety and comfort of students and school staff should be paramount.
Our Place executive director Don Evans told people at that meeting that shelter staff would conduct drug sweeps and that police would be called at the first sign of drug dealers. It is the responsibility of Our Place to ensure those and other measures are maintained.
Parents and school officials also said they were blindsided by the announcement that the facility would be used to house the homeless, a decision made without any public consultation. That, too, is a valid complaint. Co-operation is always more productive than confrontation.
Grant McKenzie, communications director for Our Place, understands, as a parent, why people are concerned, but said he believes the shelter will make the neighbourhood safer 鈥渂ecause we鈥檝e got security here and outreach workers here and we have a community being built here that wants to be a good neighbour.鈥�
The onus is on the shelter and its partners, not on the school district, to ensure that the school and students are not adversely affected. McKenzie said Our Place will work with shelter residents and volunteers to clean up needles.
The transitional shelter is an opportunity for residents to improve their lives. It is also an opportunity for students to learn compassion and understanding. And apparently that process is beginning 鈥� McKenzie said people from the school brought lunch to those moving into the shelter Tuesday.
The school district should not be faulted for being concerned 鈥� to do otherwise would be negligent 鈥� but neither should it go overboard in its reaction to problems that have not occurred. Rather, it should work with the shelter to ensure the problems don鈥檛 happen.
