While the provincial government waits to see how the Greater Victoria School board responds to its order to produce a safety plan, there’s something it could do right now on that front to help.
That is: Restore and maintain funding for a small youth support team that has made a huge difference in some families’ lives.
A Mobile Youth Support Team (MYST) made up of a counsellor and a police officer that has run for years in the region is being curtailed and faces possible shutdown because its funding is eroding.
It’s not directly part of the school police liaison program that the school board rejected last year and adamantly refused to allow to resume operating.
But it does similar work and is considered a key way of dealing with the gang menace in local schools. It has a current caseload of 250 young people, many of them from the Greater Victoria School District.
The Solicitor General’s Ministry last June announced a $130,000 grant to the Colwood-based 91Ô´´ Centre Family Services Association, part of which was used to support MYST.
But it was a one-time grant. Several people familiar with the outfit, which cobbles funding together from a variety of sources every year, confirm it is now facing the threat of shutdown. It is reportedly being reduced to two days a week, starting next week.
Provincial officials, along with numerous other people and groups, have been justifiably concerned about the school board’s insistence that “undeniably, there are some students and staff who don’t feel safe with police in schools.”
The widespread objections to the board’s position prompted Education Minister Rachna Singh last week to order the district to produce a comprehensive safety plan.
It was a commendable way of showing they care about kids’ safety. If they want to demonstrate even more commitment, finding some funding for MYST is a good place to start.
It is funded by regional police departments and various other agencies. Sources say some police departments are winding down their contributions at the same time money from the one-time grant is running low.
A mother — anonymous for obvious reasons — said this week that the team was a lifeline for her family and may have literally saved her son’s life.
He started down a dangerous path and started selling vapes, a common entry point to gang activity. It led to extortion threats and violence that prompted his relocation last year. (Parts of her story were recounted here in earlier coverage of the school police liaison program issue.)
MYST helped them through the crisis and have stayed in contact since.
“I dread to think of all the youth and their anxious, desperate parents who rely on MYST,” the mother said.
Asked about MYST at an unrelated news conference Tuesday, Premier David Eby said as a parent he feels good about having police liaison officers in schools.
“We’ll do whatever’s necessary to make sure schools are safe for kids, which includes supporting these kinds of liaison programs, not just in Victoria, but across the province.”
Part of Singh’s directive was a requirement to produce a progress report by Oct. 1 on the safety plan, and the plan itself by Nov. 15.
The board responded to the directive by saying it has been in dialogue with police and the government for months about the issue.
“We are concerned that rather than engage in continued collaborative efforts alongside us and police services, the minister took this preemptive and unprecedented step.”
A statement said they were optimistic and motivated to keep moving the safety conversation forward.
The big difference to be resolved is whether the safety plan will include uniformed officers in schools. It’s not specifically mandated in the directive.
The board is backed by the Victoria Teachers’ Association and the B.C. Teachers’ Federation in opposing the school police liaison program. The local union supported the board because “the police and criminal justice system have been founded on and continue to perpetuate systemic racism.”
The union has advocated for more counsellors and teacher aides as a way to address safety issues.
The police school liaison officer program was suspended by Victoria Police Chief Del Manak during a 2018 budget crunch. When he tried to resurrect it two years ago, the board unanimously voted to not allow it.
Whatever comes out of the safety plan, MYST’s closely related work should continue.
>>> To comment on this article, write a letter to the editor: [email protected]
