14 Edmonton Public schools added to School Resource Officer program

More Edmonton Public high schools and junior high schools are already welcoming School Resource Officers (SROs) to their campus this year.

Fourteen schools have been added into the program since fall 2025. Six are junior high schools as part of phase 3, which started this month.

The new schools are:

• Dr. Anne Anderson
• Elder Dr. Francis Whiskeyjack
• J. Percy Page
• Lillian Osborne
• McNally
• Strathcona
• W.P. Wagner
• Kate Chegwin
• T.D. Baker
• Londonderry
• Dickinsfield
• Rosslyn
• Spruce Avenue
• Victoria

Phase 1 included six high schools in 2025. It was the first time police officers were regularly inside Edmonton Public schools since the program was paused in 2020 and voted back in 2024.

This version includes an Edmonton police officer as well as a part-time mental health therapist with more training and orientation.

An evaluation report into Phase 1 included surveys by students and staff who were asked about their awareness of SROs and their feelings towards them.

“(They don’t) feel like an authoritative figure, (they) just feel like someone you can go talk to about your life without the pressure of knowing that it’s gonna go to someone higher up in the school,” one student said in the survey.

When using one or two words to describe how the SRO made a student feel, some of the most common answers were “safe,” “good,” and “indifferent.”

The report concluded the new SRO program was “effective” and helped support a relationship with police.

School principals packed an EPSB meeting on Tuesday as an SRO program evaluation report was brought to the board.

Some principals with SROs told the board about their experiences.

“One of our Indigenous students had her purse stolen. Our SRO sat down with her to reapply for some of her IDs and to make a report,” said Kim Backs, the principal of Jasper Place School.

Chelsea Erdmann of M.E. LaZerte School detailed a recent incident where a student vandalized the building and the SRO determined it was around radicalization because of their previous work.

“He was able to inform us of the work we could do to support this student and family,” Erdmann said.

She told the board her school has seen a 40 per cent drop in suspensions and 60 per cent decrease in expulsions since getting an officer.

Saadiq Sumar, EPSB Chair, described phase 1’s results as positive with more awareness of what an SRO is compared to the previous version.

“To me, you can’t compare the two. It’s an apples to oranges comparison,” said Sumar.

“There’s intentional steps being taken, like introducing them into the community, making sure folks know who they are, and building that relationship with students and staff.”

It’s expected evaluations will take place over the next year. EPSB Superintendent Ron Thompson told the board that no plans have been to made to add SROs to K-6 or K-9 schools.