Hazel Manning’s ‘action plan’ to curb school violence

In the wake of the virtual  failure of one plan — the School Intervention Strategies — to stem the tide of  serious indiscipline and violence in schools, the Ministry has come up with an “action-plan” which would include the hiring of retired policemen and soldiers as “school wardens.” The “school wardens” would be responsible for formulating a security and safety plan for each school. This plan would include an emergency plan “to deal quickly” with any crisis, Education Minister Hazel Manning said yesterday. 

“You need security plans in the school. Something happens and there is no one to turn to. That warden (would) become part of the staff. The warden’s job would be to create a security plan with the teachers, the principal, the children, whether it is to look after the fence, whether it is to monitor the MTS guards or to work with the police in the area. Each school would have a different plan,” she said. She added that the wardens would be supported with electronic data and equipment, so that they could monitor what is happening outside of the schools, the fence and the “quiet areas.” But they would not be armed, Manning stated. The wardens would be people “who understand how to strategise where security is concerned,” she said. She was speaking at the post-Cabinet news conference at Whitehall.

National Security Minister Martin Joseph said the police expected to be out of the school “as quickly as possible” and be replaced by school wardens. “We hope to be out of there by August,” he said. Until then the police will continue to have a “direct presence” in the schools. They will be responsible for the increase in community policing, the achievement of quality service from security firms and the facilitiating the “nurturing of good citizenship” via youth programmes such as the Civilian Conservation Corps.

Manning said the other elements of the action plan would  include:
a) expansion of the structure put in place under the SIS, whereby one person from the National Security Ministry would be working with the staff in the Ministry of Education;
b) continuation of the research done by social scientist  Prof Ramesh Deosaran;
c) strengthening of the Parent Teachers’ Associations;
d) establishment of homework centres;
e) establishment of an anti-drug system;
f) programmes in conflict resolution and mediation; 
g) establishment of standards for the selection and monitoring of the performance of security firms;
h) school time-out programme;
j) strengthening of out-of-school suspension programme;
k) peer mediation programme;
l) responsibility education programme and comparative religion.
She said the Ministry would be putting more social workers and guidance counsellors in the schools. Manning said the cost of all these programmes would be an additional $35 million.