PPM 120 (May 12, 2011) requires boards to report the total number of violent incidents on an annual basis to the Ministry of Education using the Ontario School Information System (OnSIS). The term “violent incident” is defined to include: possessing a weapon including possessing a firearm, physical assault causing bodily harm requiring medical attention, sexual assault, robbery, using a weapon to cause or to threaten bodily harm to another person, extortion and hate and/or bias-motivated occurrences. Principals (and their designates) must know this definition so that they can properly complete the Safe Schools Incident Reporting Form, which will require that the principal check a box to signal whether the event in question was a violent incident as defined by PPM 120.
The principal must file a copy of the Safe Schools Incident Reporting Form – Part I with documentation indicating the action taken in the Ontario Student Record (OSR) of the student whose behaviour was inappropriate. The names of all other students (students who have engaged in the activity and students who have been harmed) that appear on the form must be removed from the form before it is filed. In the case of the student who has been harmed, no information about the incident must be placed in the OSR, unless expressly requested by the student’s parents. The form and the documentation must be kept in the OSR for a minimum of one year.
If the principal has identified the incident as violent, the Safe Schools Incident Reporting Form – Part I must be retained in that student’s OSR for one year, if the student’s suspension was quashed or withdrawn and the record of suspension expunged; for three years, if the student was suspended for the violent incident; for five years, if the student was expelled for the violent incident. Please note that, for non-violent incidents where no further action is taken by the principal, the principal is not required to retain the report.