School violence blamed on poverty, gangs

from The Globe and Mail

Mayor's message overshadowed by stabbing at a suburban Brampton high school yesterday

TIMOTHY APPLEBY AND JOHN LORINC

With reports from Anthony Capuano and Unnati Gandhi

Negative headlines stemming from a contentious report on violence and sex assaults in Toronto high schools could trigger a middle-class exodus from Canada's largest public-school system because the coverage has failed to stress that problems occur predominantly in neighbourhoods plagued by poverty and gangs, Mayor David Miller says.

Within hours, however, came more bad news, and from no urban ghetto: In the foyer of a normally placid high school in suburban Brampton, northwest of Toronto, a 16-year-old boy was stabbed and seriously injured yesterday morning.

His alleged assailant, 17, was swiftly arrested on school premises and charged with aggravated assault, assault with a deadly weapon and carrying a concealed weapon.

As half a dozen Toronto high schools held open houses last night for students about to make the move from Grade 8 to Grade 9, there seemed little sense of panic among parents who spoke up.

"Every parent worries about their child and whether their school is safe," said Teodora Miloradovic, whose 13-year-old son will attend North Toronto Collegiate Institute in the fall. Ms. Miloradovic said she has entertained the thought of switching to the private school system but decided otherwise.

"Some people say [violence in schools] depends on the part of the city you're in, but I certainly think it can happen anywhere, regardless of economics."

The stabbing at Chinguacousy Secondary School near Bramalea Road happened shortly before 10 a.m. As tactical response units from Peel Regional Police arrived, the 1,600-pupil school was locked down for two hours.

"The suspect is a student at this school, the victim is not," said Constable J.P. Valade of Peel police.

"We heard a scuffle outside the cafeteria and I heard someone yell, 'Knife! Knife!' " said student Brian Ramarine.

The victim sustained four stab wounds on the left side of his body and is expected to recover, police said. A witness said a brawl preceded the stabbing. "They all started fighting, one guy came up from the side and stabbed another man in his legs," the teen told CTV.

Commissioned by the Toronto District School Board after 15-year-old Jordan Manners was fatally shot at North York's C.W. Jefferys Collegiate eight months ago, the 1,000-page report authored chiefly by Toronto lawyer Julian Falconer cites scores of violent incidents in city schools.

Among its key recommendations: sniffer dogs to detect guns concealed in school lockers; closer scrutiny of school entrances; a provincial portfolio focused on school safety; and fresh thinking about gender-based violence and cyber-bullying.

While not rejecting any of those proposals, Mr. Miller said in an interview he was dismayed at the way the leaked report was portrayed.

"I'm very, very concerned," he said. "It's not the report, it's the headlines that come from it. I'm worried those headlines will make the problems worse. The school system has to be safe, and it has to be felt to be safe."

He said he also has a sense of déjà vu.

During the Falconer panel's consultations, the mayor voiced frustration over the fact that a city-led initiative to improve community safety in 13 "priority" neighbourhoods - launched in 2004 after several high-profile shootings - appears to have foundered, chiefly because of poor co-ordination with other levels of government.

And in the interview, Mr. Miller reiterated that theme, noting that while issues of student safety and behaviour resonate citywide, schools in impoverished areas with a lack of services are radically more afflicted by violence than those in affluent neighbourhoods.

Toronto Police Services Board chair Alok Mukherjee concurred. Before joining the board, he was part of a school board task force that probed the question of safety.

"We found patterns [of violence] in certain parts of the city, especially Scarborough and the northwest," he said. "Those have been the two most affected areas."

That task force's conclusions were very similar to those of Mr. Falconer's panel, Mr. Mukherjee said.

"But the board chose not to implement them. Three years and $750,000 later, we are talking about safe schools again. My question is, what happened to those recommendations?"