NORTHEAST — A new strategy gives schools in the North East School Division the tools to deal with threatening behavior.
Representatives from the North East School Division (NESD), Saskatchewan Health Authority, Ministry of Social Services, Ministry of Corrections and Policing, Cumberland College, and the RCMP gathered in Melfort Dec. 17 to sign the violence threat risk assessment protocol
“The mandate of the protocol basically to reduce risk and violence in schools and in the community itself,” said Eric Huffnagel, superintendent of student services at the NESD. “It does it through an identification process. If someone exhibits what we might call ‘alarming behavior’ what happens is the protocol is implemented and the partners work together to ensure that, a) that things are safe for everyone, and b) that the appropriate investigation occurs and then subsequent follow up.”
Alarming behavior would need to be an explicit threat that would have to be founded and proven for the alleged perpetrator to have a means to carry out the threat.
“Through an investigation process with the alleged perpetrator perhaps, and then of course when you think about the follow up with partner agencies you then have obviously access through Social Services, Health, Justice and the RCMP itself,” Huffnagel said. “It wouldn’t be something any one partner does in isolation.”
According to Huffnagel this doesn’t just mean punishment for the perpetrator.
“Punishment isn’t always the answer, at times I would say you’re probably more prone to be looking at the supports that are needed to ensure that whoever it is is supported so a) the threat is mitigated and safety is in place, but as important the alleged victims and perpetrator are safe and looked after as well.”
The protocol signing was a formality, and has been used unofficially used by the NESD in the past, said Huffnagel.
“It’s been something that has been province wide and in most school divisions for years and we’ve worked through this process informally for the last several years, but we’ve thought it was high-time to formalize it.”
The signing took place on Dec. 17.
“I guess we’ll find out how smoothly it will actually go, because now we have partners onboard,” Huffnagel said. “When you think of something like a place like TMSS where they have a public library, a rink, a curling rink, you got Cumberland College, you got daycares in there. We have complex buildings with complex environments so it’s prudent, I think, and responsible on our part that the partners are involved there.”
