Parents outraged after security guards hired to supervise school kids
Canada March 22 2018 Parents at one Bedford elementary school are expressing outrage over the employing of security guards to supervise their kids.
Stock Transportation changed their bus routes by a few minutes to 15 different schools in order to get students to class on time, said the school board.
Parents at one of the schools — Basinview Drive Community School in Bedford — are upset because kids now arrive earlier than regular staff supervisory times and are watched over by security guards, contracted by the school bus company, instead of school staff.
On a Facebook page for parents of students at the school, parents lambasted the new supervisory practice and called it “unacceptable.”
One parent on the page said that they went to the school at 8:05 a.m. and saw groups of children playing unsupervised.
They also said the only security guard there wasn’t paying attention to the kids and was a distance away.
“I … had to holler at groups of young kids who had left the front playground area and run down the hill to the sidewalk next to the road,” they said.
Another parent said their husband dropped the kids off at school and saw one security guard responsible for hundreds of children.
“Anyone could snatch up a kid or the kids could venture out in the road or parking lot and get hit by a car,” they said.
Doug Hadley, spokesperson for the Halifax Regional School Board, said in an interview kids had to be supervised at all times.
But with the new bus routes getting everyone to class on time, some kids get to school earlier than staff supervisory times, said Hadley.
“We cannot require staff to provide supervision outside of 20 minutes before school,” he said.
The agreement with Stock was made and they hired a company; with Stock footing the bill, there is no cost to the school board, said Hadley.
He also said he can appreciate that parents are upset over a change in routine.
However, he said they had to address students not making it to class on time.
“We can’t allow students to be arriving to class late when there is something we can do about it,” he said.
He said the security guards have gone through the necessary checks to pass the board’s “student protection policy” and will provide proper supervision.
Hadley encouraged concerned parents to reach out to their school principals or the board.
“We are not receiving many concerns here,” he said.
