The safety of students and staff is a priority for the St. Clair Catholic District School Board.
In April 2013 a multi-agency Community Threat Assessment Protocol (CTAP) was signed in Sarnia-Lambton and Chatham-Kent. In the months leading up to this historic event, a partnership of school boards and community agencies worked cooperatively to reduce the risk of violence and threats of violence, to help make schools and communities safer.
The St. Clair Catholic District School Board, Lambton Kent District School Board and Conseil Scolaire Catholique Providence, in partnership with law enforcement and community agencies across Lambton County and the Municipality of Chatham-Kent, established the protocol to manage threats of violence and promote individual, school and community safety. As part of this program, more than 500 people have been trained in Violence Threat Risk Assessment through the Canadian Centre for Threat Assessment and Trauma Response.
Under the terms of the new protocol, a Community Threat Assessment Team (CTAT), whose membership is drawn from appropriate community agencies, police and the school boards, will share relevant child and youth information, which will enable CTAT members to make a comprehensive evaluation of all factors, to determine whether there is a risk for violence. Whenever the CTAT is activated, the team is able to collect sufficient relevant information, often within one or two hours, in order to determine the immediate level of risk for violence.
Public signing ceremonies were held at the St. Clair Catholic Education Centre in Wallaceburg and the Lambton Kent District School Board Education Centre in Sarnia. The group photos show members of the agencies, who were signatories to the Community Threat Assessment Protocol documents.
Video of the Historic Signing Ceremony