Almost one year after Simcoe County District School Board defeated a motion to install security cameras in its schools, cameras are once again on the minds of trustees.

A recent study looking at vandalism at board schools shows that while the number of vandalism incidents is stable, it remains a huge problem for board operations staff.

Vandalism cost the board almost $1 million in 2006/2007 and is projected to remain at that level for 2007/2008.

As the board begins to work on its budget and dealing with the cost of vandalism, trustee Debra Edwards asked if security cameras where an option.

“When they (the schools) are occupied it doesn’t happen,” she said. “We have to mitigate the cost of security cameras against the cost of what we are paying in vandalism and insurance.”

Trustee Nancy Halbert said cameras would also save the board’s principals and vice principals time from having to monitor the halls.

“I think our precious time is our principals and our VPs, and they should be focused on achievement, not monitoring the halls,” she said. “Look at the cost of a camera compared to the cost of a salary.”

Halbert said she would be disappointed if she did not see some camera money in the upcoming budget.

The report on vandalism was brought forward as part of the board’s budget planning process.

It outlined a number of problem areas and explained what the board is doing, and planning to do in the future.

To deal with the issue, the board has created a Vandalism Project Team made up of facility services, information technology and administrators in both secondary and elementary schools.

The team was created in late 2007 and is in the early stages of collecting and examining data, compiling possible solutions and developing strategies.

Superintendent Phyllis Hili said the board is aggressively targeting vandalism.

“Vandalism is increasing and is a provincewide trend,” she said. “What we plan to do is take a look very closely to identify the patterns that preliminary data is starting to show us.”

The board will look at what is being done in other areas and in other boards and use those strategies to develop an action plan.

The team is looking at factors that keep vandalism down in certain months will try to replicate them during the months when vandalism is up, May, August and September.

The board defines vandalism as anything that is done to the building or property that requires maintenance out of the ordinary, including broken windows, graffiti or a common Halloween problem of eggs on buildings.

Trustee Diane Firman said the board needs to work with the entire community to deal with vandalism.

“It’s not a school problem, it’s not a police problem. It’s everyone’s problem,” she said.

Hili said the board would be prepared to do whatever it takes and bring all the players to the table once they have all the data.