Driving to Florida soon from Ontario, worried and scared

[luvsJack]

A little OT (sorry) but the idea of there being an actual law-enforcement officer in an elementary, Jr., high or high school on a full-time basis is so foreign to me that I can't even imagine it. And the number if incidents you mention at what apparently is a single school boggles the mind.

I didn't mention a number of incidents? They have lock downs for a number of things, many of which really do not mean the students are in any danger. One was for a non custodial threatening his ex that he would go pick up his child. I think they have had actually one for any kind of weapon on campus and it was a knife found in a locker. I believe maybe a hunting knife. That was dd's freshman year and the custodial parent thing was her junior year. Lock down has come to mean a whole lot more than a shooter on campus.

All of our area high schools have police officers. That particular high school started with it being an off duty deputy. And over time, the money was in the budget for an officer and police car. He isn't there to just guard the school or anything. He breaks up fights, looks for kids skipping class, calls the sheriff's office if they feel the need for the drug dog on campus. He helps when one of the students has car trouble, jumps of their batteries, gets locked keys out of the car, changes tires, etc. He talks to the students about the dangers of drug and alcohol and gives presentations. He is around at all sporting events. He is the go to person for anyone needing to report bullying problems (they have an online anonymous reporting thing) or to investigate bullying. He investigates if there is a theft on campus.

 

[CdnCarrie]

A little OT (sorry) but the idea of there being an actual law-enforcement officer in an elementary, Jr., high or high school on a full-time basis is so foreign to me that I can't even imagine it. And the number if incidents you mention at what apparently is a single school boggles the mind.

They do have them in Calgary. Maybe not full time but assigned to each school.

http://www.calgary.ca/cps/Pages/You...chool-resources/School-Resource-Officers.aspx

We have them in Winnipeg at some high schools as well. I don't think they are at elementary schools.

 

[Dizneefamily+4]

A little OT (sorry) but the idea of there being an actual law-enforcement officer in an elementary, Jr., high or high school on a full-time basis is so foreign to me that I can't even imagine it. And the number if incidents you mention at what apparently is a single school boggles the mind.

Our high school has a full-time police liaison officer on staff. He's employed by our local police department. Our town has a population of about 4,000. Our (8-12) high school has an enrollment of about 1,000 students. So we're not talking about a huge place. We're semi-rural and have very little crime. Our liaison officer is also the owner and handler of our district police dog. He's a drug dog, trained to sniff out drugs in the schools. He does random searches and the officer does a lot of outreach and training in our district's 5 elementary schools and middle school. Not all police officers in school are there to prevent and handle school violence.

 

[mom2rtk]

Our high school has a full-time police liaison officer on staff. He's employed by our local police department. Our town has a population of about 4,000. Our (8-12) high school has an enrollment of about 1,000 students. So we're not talking about a huge place. We're semi-rural and have very little crime. Our liaison officer is also the owner and handler of our district police dog. He's a drug dog, trained to sniff out drugs in the schools. He does random searches and the officer does a lot of outreach and training in our district's 5 elementary schools and middle school. Not all police officers in school are there to prevent and handle school violence.

Same here and we're an average size suburban district. In the elementary setting they aren't there all the time but come in routinely to do outreach and education, including DARE.

I can find plenty of things to complain about in life, or in our schools, but having a school resource officer there isn't one of them.

 

[ronandannette]

A quick trip to wikipedia shows that there are even school resource officers in Toronto and areas of Canada. So it's not just the US. I remember passing the elementary assistant principal and the SRO heading out to investigate truancy--the school is in a average American area with a quiet local K-6 school. So there are many things the SRO does for the school. Here's the link

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School_resource_officer

They do have them in Calgary. Maybe not full time but assigned to each school.

http://www.calgary.ca/cps/Pages/You...chool-resources/School-Resource-Officers.aspx

We have them in Winnipeg at some high schools as well. I don't think they are at elementary schools.

Wow - the things I missed knowing about because my kid went to private school. Thanks for the education (no pun intended).

 

[Magpie]

A quick trip to wikipedia shows that there are even school resource officers in Toronto and areas of Canada. So it's not just the US. I remember passing the elementary assistant principal and the SRO heading out to investigate truancy--the school is in a average American area with a quiet local K-6 school. So there are many things the SRO does for the school. Here's the link

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School_resource_officer

These officers may be assigned to certain schools, in order to do special presentations and offer advice to administrators and such like, but I don't think there's a single school in my board that has an armed officer posted on school property. The concept of a police officer being present in a school every day IS a very foreign concept to most Canadians.

We don't even have truant officers in our schools! Or nurses, for that matter. Principals are often assigned to more than one school, so they leave most of the day-to-day stuff to vice principals (who are also teachers). We do have a "special education resource teacher" for each school, though.

Most doors remain unlocked during the day, and there are no metal detectors. Starting in grade 6 or 7, students are free to come and go as they please from the campuses. They can bring their own medication, as long as they can administer it themselves. Absences are at parental discretion and don't require any special permissions. When a young child brought a hunting knife for show and tell, the teacher confiscated it, informed the child of the "no weapons in school" policy and gave it back to his parent at the end of the day.

So, I'm sure you can see how odd many of the tales coming out of the States are, to those of us with very different school systems!

 

[pat fan]

I think i would be more willing to consider people's need to "protect themselves" by packing heat if i heard about someone walking in to shoot up a place and a law-abiding, gun-toting citizen saved the day. does that happen and it just doesn't make the news?? i can barely keep track of my phone and my keys.... i would never want the responsibility of managing a gun while trying to get thru my day.

Actually, yes it does happen but the main stream news doesn't report it because that doesn't fit their agenda.

 

[Disneylover99]

So gun toting citizens save the day a lot and it's not newsworthy? That in itself is unsettling.

 

[pat fan]

So gun toting citizens save the day a lot and it's not newsworthy? That in itself is unsettling.

Yup. But the powers that ge want to push gun "control" so it wouldn't do to have people talking about what good people do when they're armed.

 

[Dentam]

Yup. But the powers that ge want to push gun "control" so it wouldn't do to have people talking about what good people do when they're armed.

Yeah, not buying that. I'm sure you'd at least see it reported on Faux News.

 

[CdnCarrie]

These officers may be assigned to certain schools, in order to do special presentations and offer advice to administrators and such like, but I don't think there's a single school in my board that has an armed officer posted on school property. The concept of a police officer being present in a school every day IS a very foreign concept to most Canadians.

We don't even have truant officers in our schools! Or nurses, for that matter. Principals are often assigned to more than one school, so they leave most of the day-to-day stuff to vice principals (who are also teachers). We do have a "special education resource teacher" for each school, though.

Most doors remain unlocked during the day, and there are no metal detectors. Starting in grade 6 or 7, students are free to come and go as they please from the campuses. They can bring their own medication, as long as they can administer it themselves. Absences are at parental discretion and don't require any special permissions. When a young child brought a hunting knife for show and tell, the teacher confiscated it, informed the child of the "no weapons in school" policy and gave it back to his parent at the end of the day.

So, I'm sure you can see how odd many of the tales coming out of the States are, to those of us with very different school systems!

There are truant officers in Winnipeg as my neighbour use to be one. They are basically social workers that look into chronic absentism. I'm sure Ontario has something similar. They may not be called truant officers but they do the same type of work.

I think there are a few high schools in Winnipeg in tougher neighbourhoods that do have full time police officers on staff. They deal with drugs, etc.

No kids cannot go free in Grade 6 at my kids school.

 

[Missy1961]

Yup. But the powers that ge want to push gun "control" so it wouldn't do to have people talking about what good people do when they're armed.

I'm having a hard time believing this. You truly think that Fox News wouldn't report this?

 

[MeghanG855]

We drive from PA to FL every year (taking 81 to 77) we leave at 8pm and drive straight through. I have never felt in danger or anything like that. The rest stops aren't as fancy/big as the ones you'll see on 95, but we usually stop at Pilot or Love's.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

Yeah, not buying that. I'm sure you'd at least see it reported on Faux News.

Oh trust me, it's out there, but the national sources rarely pick them up - if you dig deep enough on yahoo!, you'll find some of them. The NRA runs 10 or 12 such stories every month in their magazines - all of them easily verifiable. Members send articles from their local newspapers.

 

[pat fan]

I'm having a hard time believing this. You truly think that Fox News wouldn't report this?

Really? It happens, not every day for sure, but it does. And it is reported, just not carried and sensationalized.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

These officers may be assigned to certain schools, in order to do special presentations and offer advice to administrators and such like, but I don't think there's a single school in my board that has an armed officer posted on school property. The concept of a police officer being present in a school every day IS a very foreign concept to most Canadians.

We don't even have truant officers in our schools! Or nurses, for that matter. Principals are often assigned to more than one school, so they leave most of the day-to-day stuff to vice principals (who are also teachers). We do have a "special education resource teacher" for each school, though.

Most doors remain unlocked during the day, and there are no metal detectors. Starting in grade 6 or 7, students are free to come and go as they please from the campuses. They can bring their own medication, as long as they can administer it themselves. Absences are at parental discretion and don't require any special permissions. When a young child brought a hunting knife for show and tell, the teacher confiscated it, informed the child of the "no weapons in school" policy and gave it back to his parent at the end of the day.

So, I'm sure you can see how odd many of the tales coming out of the States are, to those of us with very different school systems!

Sounds much like the school I attended - though we were allowed to carry pocket knives in those days. And we didn't have an open campus, even in HS.

The police function these days is primarily CYA. Kid gets unruly, the school staff isn't to touch them, but the police can.

 

[jiminyC_fan]

Ya, not buying gun toting citizens are constantly coming to the rescue.

 

[Magpie]

There are truant officers in Winnipeg as my neighbour use to be one. They are basically social workers that look into chronic absentism. I'm sure Ontario has something similar. They may not be called truant officers but they do the same type of work.

I think there are a few high schools in Winnipeg in tougher neighbourhoods that do have full time police officers on staff. They deal with drugs, etc.

No kids cannot go free in Grade 6 at my kids school.

Yes, but in an American friend's school, the truant officer had an actual office in the school. She recalls being frightened to walk past his office, because she thought he could throw her in jail.

Also, in my neck of the woods (Ontario), truancy - according to a family lawyer I know - is only pursued in cases involving other child welfare issues, such as neglect. I'm sure there are social workers who specialize in school refusal cases (and they may even be called "truant officers" for all I know), but they aren't a visible presence in our schools.

Now, I can't speak as to the worst schools in Toronto. They may be more like the American schools I've heard about.

(And it is grade six in at least a few schools here, because I see those kids down at the chip truck around lunch time, and I know a few of them. With my children's school it was Grade 7 - I had to sign a parental permission form to allow them off school grounds.)

 

[Magpie]

Sounds much like the school I attended - though we were allowed to carry pocket knives in those days. And we didn't have an open campus, even in HS.

The police function these days is primarily CYA. Kid gets unruly, the school staff isn't to touch them, but the police can.

I took a pocket knife to school once in grade 5... a teacher took it away, and then a gang of my usual bullies followed me around chanting, "Killer! Killer! Who you gonna kill, killer!"

That was not a good day!

I've been generally quite a bit happier with my children's school experiences, than I was with mine (same school board, different - better! - leadership). They're more on top of bullying (wouldn't have tolerated what I endured), but they haven't sacrificed common sense. When my son in Grade 7 got into a scrap with another boy, the teacher walked up, grabbed them both by the scruff of the neck and held them apart. Then he interviewed witnesses, got both boys' sides of the story, sent one kid to the office and sent the other (my son) off to class.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

Ya, not buying gun toting citizens are constantly coming to the rescue.

Coming to the rescue of others? No, definitely not "constantly" though it's more frequent than mainstream media would have you believe.

Now, homeowners or store clerks using a gun to defend themselves against would-be robbers? "Constantly" would definitely be the case there. I probably see 1/2 a dozen such stories in my FB feed every day, a shocking number of which come complete with videos. Most of them feature prominently on local news sources, but they're rarely picked up by the national media.

Consider also that an armed victim is cited as the #1 thing burglars fear most. In the past 20 or so years, we went from concealed carry being an oddity to being allowed in some form in all 50 states. During this same timeframe, the US homicide rate has been cut in half.