SAFER SCHOOLS

Who shall we choose?

Education Minister Stephen Lecce announced $24 million to help reduce the risk of violence in schools and to promote the safety of students and educators. 

  • These investments include:
    • More than $2.8 million to expand Focus on Youth, providing high-quality program opportunities for thousands of students in 24 school boards, creating employment opportunities for high school students.
    • $1.8 million to the Toronto District School Board to work with community organizations to address incidents of school violence. 
    • $500,000 (2022-23, 2023-24) to the Pinball Clemons Foundation to partner with the One Voice One Team Youth Leadership Organization. This partnership will provide mentorship and leadership development, and ongoing opportunities for in-school and after-school programming.
    • $600,000 to partner with Respect Group to deliver and implement the Respect in School Workshop, an evidence-based training program available in French and English designed for school leaders on the prevention of bullying, abuse, harassment and discrimination.
  • $1.5 million (2023-24) in anti-hate initiatives that include development of classroom resources that better reflects the population of Canada, and to partner with community organizations to provide curriculum-linked educational resources on digital literacy to increase student awareness of online misinformation, critical thinking skills and awareness of online hate and threats.
  • $1 million in 2023-24 to partner with community organizations to combat racism — including rising antisemitism and other forms of hate.
  • Included in the new funding of $16 million to support student well-being through the Safe and Clean Schools Supplement within the Grants for Student Needs is:
    • $12 million to support the salaries and benefits costs for staff such as psychologists, social workers and child/youth workers to enhance additional direct services for students
    • $4 million to support the salaries and benefits costs for educational assistants to work with students who may require additional support.

The government’s investments reflect the urgency of supporting communities to combat school violence in community — including an over 500% increase in mental health since 2017 and hiring of 2,000 additional educators focused on literacy and math in Ontario schools. 

The Ontario government continues to call on the federal government to immediately bring forward bail reform to ensure repeat violent offenders stay behind bars. 

News Release; https://news.ontario.ca/en/release/1002960/ontario-combating-violence-and-improving-safety-in-schools