Pubdate: Sat, 10 Mar 2007 Source: Winnipeg Free Press (CN MB) Copyright: 2007 Winnipeg Free Press Contact: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/502 Author: Jenny Gerbasi JENNY GERBASI RESPONDS I am glad to see students writing into the Free Press to express their views and speak up in support of their school. I also want to let students, parents and teachers at Kelvin High School know that I regret it if my comments about drugs left the impression that Kelvin was being singled out. I stated then and will repeat that all high schools have problems with drugs. To put my remarks in context, they were said at a committee meeting in which I was trying to get through to other councillors that we need to put a crime prevention initiative in place to deal with school problems such as drugs, bullying and other issues. The School Resource Officer Program exists in the North End and similar programs exist citywide in Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver and Regina. The North End pilot project was evaluated and considered to be a huge success as a crime prevention approach. The proposal to expand this program throughout the Winnipeg School Division has come from parent councils, school administrators and the community at large. I agree with comments by the students that drugs are a choice made by students. However, the idea of creating proactive and preventative programs such as SROP have been shown to have a positive impact on vulnerable students in terms of steering them away from choosing criminal activity through having positive contact and role modeling from police officers. I want people to know that I think Kelvin is an excellent school. I also want you to know that my only intention in making the comments was to convince city council to support a program that I think our community needs and would be a great benefit for students and families in the Winnipeg School Division. Jenny Gerbasi, Councillor, Fort Rouge-East Fort Garry - --- MAP posted-by: Derek