Citing school safety concerns, Meath Park parents start petition

Chris Conant, is one of the parents who signed the petition. He says lack of communication is a big concern for him.

“There’s been numerous incidents in the school and nothing has gone home to parents. It’s all left to be rumours from what you hear from your kids or other parents. The school addresses nothing,” he said.

“They don’t want to talk about anything. They say we are following these policies or procedures but it’s all meaningless (expletive). Nothing is actually happening,” he said.

Travis Fox has one child at the school and supports the petition as well.

“I’m really for it because it doesn’t seem like we are getting anywhere,” he said. “I am really hoping this actually gets us someone in a higher power that is actually able to give us an answer or give us a meeting to explain what’s going on.”

Cagney O’Hara has two kids who ride the bus to Meath Park school. She told paNOW she’s tried to contact the transportation manager to find out emergency protocols on bus transportation if there is a major incident, a lockdown or an emergency at the school.

“I’ve sent [emails] to many levels of representation for Sask Rivers School Division. It’s been nine days and I have not had a response yet,” she said.

While the Saskatchewan Rivers Public School Division has been able to confirm there’s been a number of incidents at the school in recent months, no specific details could be provided to protect the privacy of those involved.

RCMP statement

Nipawin-Smeaton RCMP confirmed for paNOW officers responded to two separate reports of assaults and one report of indecent act/exposure at the Meath Park school on Feb. 6, March 19, and April 1, 2023.

“All incidents involved youth and no charges were laid as the three different subjects of complaints were all youth under the ages of 12,” a statement said.

Nipawin-Smeaton RCMP advised they continue to work closely with the school and community members to provide direction on how to maintain the safety of students and the importance of reporting these incidents to police.

“As there are no charges anticipated to be laid in any of these incidents, we are unable to provide any further information.”

Response from the school division

Director of Education Robert Bratvold told paNOW he was caught off guard by the petition, explaining there was a school council meeting as recently as a few weeks ago that addressed the concerns outlined in the petition.

“Some of the parents attended and some didn’t,” Bratvold said, confirming there’s also been communication sent out to all parents at the school about the incidents by way of written letters and phone calls.

Bratvold explained each incident was managed with appropriate intervention, discipline, the Violent Threat Risk Assessment (VTRA) process as needed, and counselling or other supports as required. Information is not disclosed to all parents Bratvold said because it’s protected by privacy.

“They want to know specifically what this student did and when and how and what the consequences were and those sorts of things that are personal information that we can’t share. We can share we are aware of the incident and have taken disciplinary steps and those sorts of things but sometimes that’s hard for parents to accept,” he said.

Commenting on the incidents themselves, Bratvold said the concern for student well-being can be challenged by a few things including initial communications not reaching parents in ways meaningful to them, then leading to misunderstandings and rumours.

“We have since improved that, but it is a challenge to overcome some of the perceptions,” he said.

Bratvold also explained some of the increased needs for support for students with intensive mental health or self-regulation needs is not fully recognized with provincial funding and therefore the division’s staff is stretched thinly to meet the demand.

According to the school division’s admin procedures, the first step for parents with concerns is to work with the staff member with whom the concern rests, then if there is no resolution to work with the school principal. Parents can then contact the superintendent of schools responsible for their school. The next step would be connecting with the director of education and finally the board.

Bratvold explained two parents have followed the process and plans are in place to address their concerns. Other parents are encouraged to follow the process so their concerns can be addressed effectively as well. Noting the petition, Bratvold acknowledged it is concerning and requires a review.

“Anytime that happens you think ‘OK let’s take a look at the things we have in place that aren’t effective’ or ‘are there things we have in place that parents aren’t aware of or are there things we can do different?” he said.

In addition to questions about the violent incidents, several other people who signed the petition cited concerns related to whether the silent emergency alert button at the school is working, and whether the intercom system works in all classrooms.

In response, Bratvold encouraged parents to share their concerns with their teacher, then principal, then superintendent, then director, then the board.

“At each level there is a chance to solve the issue and denying that person a chance to address the problem is counterproductive. We have seen evidence of that over the last several weeks when parents choose to send emails among themselves and cc some school division reps, instead of directing concerns directly to someone who can potentially help them. We are in the progress of resolving several concerns and arranging conversations with others,” he said.

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nigel.maxwell@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @nigelmaxwell

by Nigel Maxwell

Citing school safety concerns, Meath Park parents start petition

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