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Share ideas about school safety

Fri, 13 Oct, 2023

The Board of Trustees is looking for participants to join its social innovation labs and engagement sessions to discuss how to create school communities that feel safe for everyone. 

At a social innovation lab, participants share their lived experiences and perspectives in small and large groups, and work together to find solutions. The process is engaging, hands-on and action-oriented.

At the evening engagement sessions, participants will move from station to station to have conversations about school safety.

What’s involved?

UPDATE: Please note corrected dates and times for these events.

Participants will attend either a two-day lab or an evening engagement session. Childcare is available for all events.

Labs

A diverse group of local social innovation lab experts will lead each session, where participants will connect and share ideas around the topic of school safety.

Participants must be available for both days. Lunch will be provided.

Engagement sessions

Participants do not need to be available for both days. Dinner will be provided from 5 p.m. to 5:45 p.m.

Who can participate?

We want to hear from diverse voices in the community, including:

• current and former students
• parents families and guardians
• school staff
• community members
• external partners of Edmonton Public Schools

Where are the events?

All events will be held at the Bennett Centre, 9703-94 Street, which is wheelchair accessible.

There is limited parking in the lot south of the Bennett Centre, and street parking in the neighbourhood.

If you are using ETS, you can access the Bennett Centre though stops 2242 (96A Street and 98 Avenue eastbound) or 2127 (96A Street and 98 Avenue westbound).

What happens next?

Insights shared during the labs and engagement sessions will help the Board of Trustees:

• understand school safety from a variety of perspectives
• create a report from participants’ feedback, which will help Trustees develop an online survey that will be shared with the public in the coming months
• propose a recommendation and pathway for how we move forward on a shared approach to school safety

Submit your information

Fill out our expression of interest form by October 20, 2023 at 12 p.m. We’ll select 80 participants for each event, and notify you by email if you are selected.

If you are not selected to participate, you will have other opportunities to share your experiences and feedback about school safety in the coming months.

What else is important to know?

In June of 2023, the Board of Trustees released an independent research report on the School Resource Officer program at Edmonton Public Schools. The study focused on the voices of racialized and otherwise marginalized students. At that time, the Board committed to listening, learning and hearing more about safety in schools.