They have been replaced by former Camosun College president Sherri Bell, who will serve as an official trustee.
The entire board of trustees of School District 61 in Victoria have been relieved of their duties by the province after obstructing efforts to come up with a new safety plan for the region, Education Minister Lisa Beare announced Thursday.
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They have been replaced by former Camosun College president Sherri Bell, who will serve as an official trustee.
Beare told reporters she has heard from members of the Victoria community, including the Victoria Police Department and local First Nations, that they can no longer work with the board.
“Over the last few years, the Greater Victoria School District has seen an alarming increase in safety concerns and gang activities in schools. First Nations, mayors, parents, school staff and police have been asking for action by the board to address these concerns,” she said.
“Our government has provided the board with multiple opportunities to meet the needs of the community, and this board has not delivered. Most recently, the board was offered the support of a special adviser, and chose not to assist him or collaborate with partners to develop a comprehensive safety plan.”
Beare said special adviser Kevin Godden will continue on in his role and will assist Bell in developing a new safety plan. This arrangement will remain in place until the next scheduled election in the fall of 2026.
A former superintendent for the Abbotsford school district, Godden was appointed by Beare in December after a previous plan submitted by the school board in November was deemed inadequate.
On Jan. 10, he submitted a report to Beare outlining his belief that the board “was biased in their decision-making” and that they had failed to meaningfully engage in conversations with community members.
“In my view, the Board’s behaviour has poisoned the working relationship with most of these parties and has eroded their confidence in the Board’s ability to successfully govern the safety of its students,” Godden concluded.
The concern over safety in the school district began in May 2023 when the school district cancelled the long-running school liaison program.
At the time, the board said it was scrapping the program over concerns it “does not best meet the needs of our students” and that it believed police were filling roles that would be best suited for social workers and counsellors specializing in both youth and family issues.
Although the Victoria Police Department had pulled out of the program in 2018 after a request for six additional officers was rejected by Esquimalt council, Saanich Police Department, Oak Bay Police Department and the West Shore RCMP had continued to staff schools with liaison officers.
In the two years since the program was scrapped, local police said they were seeing a notable increase in gang activity in and around schools in the district, which serves over 28,000 students across 28 elementary schools, 10 middle schools and seven high schools.
The board has rejected this claim, saying there is no data to back it up, but in December, Saanich Mayor Dean Murdock released police data showing 35 investigations of gang activity at Saanich schools between the middle of 2022 and the summer of 2024.