North Bay agencies sign protocol to prevent, respond to school risks

More than a dozen North Bay area agencies have signed a new threat-assessment protocol to prevent & respond to youth violence risks in schools and beyond.

Representatives from 16 groups signed what’s called an ‘assessment of risk to others’ protocol on Tuesday in North Bay.

Those 16 agencies are now part of the ARTO circle for Nipissing-Parry Sound, meaning they’ll work together to prevent and respond to risks when it comes to school violence across the catchment area.

“It’s important to kind of keep our eyes wide open going into these situations,” said Michel Page, the superintendent of education for Conseil Scolaire Public du Nord-Est.

“Sometimes we don’t have all the information but some of the community partners may have the information to help us understand what’s going on and to prevent something from happening.”

Under the protocol, agencies are committed to preventing and responding to risks of violence from children or youth in local schools or the wider community.

Partners include four local school boards, mental health agencies, police and the municipality.

Angelina Kalliora, the circle’s coordinator, is responsible for bringing everyone together in the event of a potential threat.

Come together

“We come all together and we want to get all these pieces and make the puzzle to understand what is happening, why it’s happening and have an intervention that goes straight to the root,” said Kalliora.

She said the ARTO circle would then find solutions to support the children, youth and families involved, with a larger goal to ensure community safety.

“The protocol says what we need to do after we have our meeting,” Kalliora said.

“If we want to have a micro-assessment, and then we want to continue to have a macro-assessment and how we’re going to support long-term here.”

The ARTO circle was five years in the making, with Conseil Scolaire Public du Nord-Est the first to get the ball rolling.

“I think looking around the country, there have been some fairly scary situations and we just wanted to make sure that those situations didn’t happen within our schools,” Page said.

One speaker at the launch said it’s easy to think that a school tragedy could never happen in North Bay. But rather than relying on hope, the ARTO circle is choosing to work together to strengthen the safety and well-being of the Nipissing-Parry Sound community.