Members of the fired Greater Victoria School Board have filed a petition with B.C. Supreme Court calling for reinstatement in the wake of their January dismissal by Education Minister Lisa Beare.
The court filing says Beare supported a school police-liaison program in the district while the board did not, saying it favoured a version of the program that would give “ultimate oversight” to the board.
The petition said Beare conducted a “swift and secret governance review” of the board before deciding on dismissal “based on a myriad of vague allegations which were never put to the board for response.”
After the board was fired, former district superintendent and Camosun College president Sherri Bell was appointed as an official trustee to carry out its functions until the next school-board elections in 2026.
The filing said Bell has “unsurprisingly” committed to having a school police-liaison officer program in place by the end of the current school year.
The board said in the petition that Beare acted throughout “with a collateral and improper purpose” to force the implementation of a school police-liaison officer program “without being seen to do so.”
The board had voted in May 2023 to cancel the district’s school police-liaison program, in part based on B.C. human rights commissioner Kasari Govender’s contention that Black and Indigenous students could be uncomfortable with a police presence in schools.
It said the program wasn’t “well-defined” and was administered by police departments without board direction.
Despite the cancellation of the program, the petition said that police maintained a presence in schools, with crime-prevention activities, emergency response and lockdown drills.
Police and some parents argued that the liaison officers were needed in schools because of increased gang activity, but the petition said no “empirical data” was provided to prove it.
The petition also said there was no data to support Beare’s contention that the board was the only one of 60 in the province without “a version of police presence.”
Neither the Greater Victoria School District nor former school board chair Nicole Duncan commented Tuesday on the court filing.
Beare said in a statement that “everyone is welcome to exercise their right in court.”
Beare noted that the Greater Victoria district submitted an updated safety plan to the ministry on Tuesday. The board’s failure to submit a satisfactory safety plan was cited in its firing, along with its refusal to work with First Nations, police and others to “prioritize student safety.”
In her statement, Beare said she has “every confidence that this new plan takes into consideration community voices, and critically, the Indigenous voices that were previously ignored.”
She said that she stands by the dismissal of the board. “I remain confident in my decision, which puts the focus back on kids and their success.”
Beare told reporters Tuesday that the issue “is not about safety liaison officers or police in school,” and reiterated that the Greater Victoria board stands alone in not having some sort of police program, adding that every other district “has found a way to work collaboratively with community and with police.”
Beare said that Bell has done “phenomenal work” with Kevin Godden, a special adviser who had been appointed to work with the board.
The minister said at the time of the dismissal that the board had “multiple opportunities” to do what it should to meet the needs of the community but failed to do so.
The board’s dismissal was the first since the 麻豆传媒映画and North Okanagan Shuswap boards were fired in 2016.
