What is going on in Woodstock high schools – part 2

The Thames Valley District School Board does not have any official police programs in its high schools. Community support is growing for one to be back the halls of Woodstock high schools. (TVDSB Photo).

Lee Griffi, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

It has been several years since the Thames Valley District School Board (TVDSB) has had an official policing program in its high schools. The desire to bring one back, at least in Woodstock, has fallen on deaf ears at the board level.

Woodstock Police investigated 47 violent incidents in city schools in 2024, a jump of 11 over 2023 and 24 more than 2022. Deputy police chief Nick Novacich said those numbers are concerning.

“The fact there has been a steady increase over the last few years is worrisome, and that’s just what is being reported. I have a feeling schools are dealing with some incidents internally and for some reason we aren’t being notified.”

Novacich said parents often do not want to pursue criminal charges, even when their child is a victim, but police would at least have a record of the occurrence. At the same time, he explained the level of violence during two recent and serious assaults (outlined in part 1 of this series) raises a huge red flag, along with the crowd of students watching and videotaping.

“It’s alarming that so many people just stand around watching and don’t intervene. Are some of these things staged for social media purposes, are they sometimes willing combatants?”

The deputy chief explained he recently met with the city’s high school principals and delivered a firm message.

“There’s got to be zero tolerance here. They have to be safe places.”

The TVDSB did have an official School Officer Resource Program that involved a Special Constable regularly going into the schools, along with a school officer who would visit regularly. That all ended in the spring of 2020.

“It was a combination of things. After the George Floyd incident in Minneapolis, trustees and board staff were questioned about the role of policing at the London Catholic District School Board and the Thames Valley District School Board by community leaders,” said Novacich.

Under mounting pressure, the boards voted to pause any policing in schools and then the pandemic came along, and a working group did eventually form to explore the possibility of a new program. A consultant was hired and performed student interviews, and a focus on Indigenous, black and students of colour was the end result and no further action was taken to implement something new.

“The concern was that a police officer in a school could be triggering and traumatic to some of the students. One recommendation made was an officer should not be in uniform and not have their use of force equipment to better build a relationship with students,” said Novacich.

He added London is a much bigger city and most of the opposition came from there.

“Woodstock is more of a rural setting and wasn’t experiencing the same situations. I sat on the committee along with other smaller police services in the board area and we made it clear it wasn’t feasible for us to have an officer in schools that didn’t look like an officer.”

He added there were several implications from a union standpoint that made the idea impossible.

“If we sent in a member without proper protection, what if something happened at a school and students or staff had to be defended? We opposed that because we couldn’t run a program that way. London police maybe could because they are a larger service. That’s where it ended for us.”

Novacich said the Thames Valley board ended up voting against any type of program, but a pair of Oxford trustees did support it for Woodstock high schools. He added they weren’t the only ones.

“Through some conversations with Dennis Wright, the TVDSB superintendent for our area, he said he wanted us back in the schools and added we are allowed in the schools, but we can’t deliver any type of program in a classroom setting like we used to.”

He added some officers currently stop in at schools to engage with students by simply walking the halls and checking in with the office staff.

“That’s more than welcome and that’s what we have been trying to do. Any type of program delivery has to be done after school hours and we have had some success with a drug talk or mental health crisis conversation and they were very well attended. We still have ways to engage with youth through our summer programs.”

Novacich explained that when officers are in schools the response from students has been very positive.

“I’m a basketball fan so I went to watch some of the boys' OFSSAA basketball tournament in the city recently. I went to St. Marys, CASS and WCI. The kids in the hall were saying hey, how are you doing? It wasn’t a big deal at all for them.”

He made an interesting point during our 30-minute sit-down interview at the police station – most of the kids currently in high school have never had a police program and the perception when students do see a cruiser is that someone did something to bring it there.

“After a recent visit to Huron Park, I was walking out to my car and a few kids came up and asked me what happened. I said I was driving around and stopped in to walk the halls. I popped into the cafeteria to see what was for lunch. They thought it was cool. It never used to be uncommon to see an officer in schools and now it’s swung the other way.”  

Oxford Trustee Dave Cripps is currently leading the TVDSB in the absence of chair Beth Mai who is on a leave of absence. The Echo reached out to both Cripps and the board for comment but did not get a response by press time.