REGINA - Provincial leaders and ministers are providing their reactions to last Thursday’s horrific incident at Evan Hardy Collegiate of a 15 year old girl being set on fire by another student.
The incident has attracted national attention, and also attention from provincial political leaders and ministers. Education Minister Jeremy Cockrill told reporters in Regina that he got a call about it on Thursday afternoon from the board chair of Saskatoon public schools.
“A horrible incident,” Cockrill said on Monday. “Nobody goes to school expecting that to happen. And so, certainly relieved that nobody was hurt worse than they were, and really credit to I think the Saskatoon public school staff, the individual teacher as well, who was able to I think jump in in a very scary situation. And also, the response of Saskatoon Police Service. It shows the value of having a school resource officer on site. I think as unfortunate as the situation is, and I know we’ve got people recovering from injuries, I can’t help but think it could’ve been worse and so I’m glad it wasn’t.”
A 14 year old girl has been arrested and charged with attempted murder in connection to the incident.
It has since been learned the accused has had a history of violent behavior. When asked if his ministry knew about this, Cockrill responded he was not aware of the background of that individual student.
“That would be something that the local school division would know and be aware of, and hopefully take steps to mitigate. Again, this is the type of thing that you don’t expect to see in a school, and so again going forward there will be an opportunity for discussion with Saskatoon Public, but really with all school divisions, on how we continue to keep students and teachers as safe as possible.”
Opposition Leader Carla Beck was asked about the incident at a media event in north Regina on Monday.
“Just horrifying, the accounts that have come out of that incident in Saskatoon, the injuries that were sustained by a student and a teacher,” said Beck.
Beck added that she did not have all of the details in that case, but that she had reached out to the family and continues to hear details from the school board and the police as they investigate, and as that becomes public. She wished for “the best possible outcome for those who have been injured.”
On the supports available for students in schools, Beck said “regardless of their challenges, and regardless of where they are in the province, they’re inadequate.”
“As I said, all resources that school divisions have, have been put into just maintaining teachers in front of students in the province. This is something that came out again in the teachers dispute… the lack of support for things like mental health, challenges for the kids in schools. And again, I don’t know the particulars of the case that we’re talking about here, but I do know that kids in schools right across this province are going without the supports they need, and that has very real consequences for those students, for those schools.”
The issue of addressing safety and complex needs in the classroom has been a topic raised by teachers during the labour negotiations between the province and Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation.
When asked if an incident like this pointed to the need for more resources in the classrooms, Cockrill responded that the fact that there was a school resource officer from Saskatoon Police Service there helped ensure the situation wasn’t worse than it already was.
Cockrill also told reporters the issue of classroom safety is something he takes very seriously, adding that “at the end of the day when our kids go to school with her staff go to school we expect that to be a safe place. And I think teachers deserve a safe workplace and students deserve a safe place to go to school.”
In terms of additional supports, Cockrill pointed to the announcement back in March of the “largest ever school funding increase in all 27 school divisions around the province.” He said those dollars are showing impact in terms of additional supports able to be hired in the public and Catholic divisions in the province.
“There’s always a conversation for what further supports are needed. As I said, in this school year is almost a 10 per cent increase in school operating funding, which enables school divisions to hire additional support staff, whether that’s teachers or EAs (educational assistants) or other supports within the schools.”
Asked whether all of this funding will work towards addressing the concerns, Cockrill said that with the additional dollars committed in March in the budget, he looked forward to hearing how school divisions will be able to hire more support staff and be better able to support students.
When asked if his ministry would conduct an investigation of the incident, Cockrill said that was best left to Saskatoon Police Service and Saskatoon Public Schools. Cockrill added that when he spoke to the Saskatoon board chair on Thursday, he let her know that if there was any way to provide assistance he was happy to have that discussion.
