ManitobaThe parent of a student at Winnipeg’s Darwin School wants better safety measures there, and improvements on how the public is notified about registered sex offenders, after their child’s classmate was grabbed in a washroom. ‘I want to know how and why this person was able to get in’CBC News · Posted: Dec 01, 2025 9:21 AM EST | Last Updated: 1 hour agoListen to this articleEstimated 4 minutesThe audio version of this article is generated by text-to-speech, a technology based on artificial intelligence.While there are security cameras in Darwin School and the incident showed the hold and secure protocol works, more is needed to improve safety, says a parent. (CBC)The parent of a student at Winnipeg’s Darwin School wants better safety measures there, and improvements on how the public is notified about registered sex offenders, after their child’s classmate was grabbed in a washroom.The school, in the St. Vital neighbourhood, went into a hold and secure situation Thursday after a man allegedly hid in a bathroom then grabbed a student who came out of a stall. The child escaped and was not physically hurt, police said. “It was just a terrifying incident and it has raised a lot of questions,” said the classmate’s parent, who CBC News has agreed not to name to protect the child’s identity.”I want to know how and why this person was able to get in.”Since the incident, the parent said their child is afraid of being alone in a room.”I might go do an errand or go to the gym … [they] had to FaceTime with us just so [they] didn’t feel alone,” the parent told CBC News.”You just kind of see probably these kids lost quite a bit of their innocence in one instance.”WATCH | Student grabbed in St. Vital school washroom by sex offender, say police:Student grabbed in St. Vital school washroom by sex offender, say policeWinnipeg police say a child was grabbed by a stranger in the bathroom of Darwin School on Thursday, leading to charges of assault and forcible confinement against a 28-year-old man who is a registered sex offender. The school’s front doors are generally left open throughout the day while other ones are locked, requiring a person to be buzzed-in for access, including at a daycare area where some washrooms are located, the parent said.Louis Riel School Division superintendent Christian Michalik said some doors at the school have to be “inevitably” opened to let students and staff come through the building.”Obviously this person slipped in despite all our efforts to be vigilant about avoiding this ever happening,” Michalik said.While there are security cameras in the building and the incident showed the school’s hold and secure protocol works, the parent said more is needed to improve safety.The parent of a child, classmate of the student grabbed by a stranger in a school bathroom, says security improvements are needed at the institution, including better fencing around the playground. (CBC)One alternative is for the division to put up fencing around the playground, to separate it from the adjacent public park. “You think about your neighborhood as being pretty safe … and it’s scary to think that in a school that we trust with our kids … it’s just we can’t be too safe. We can’t be too careful,” the parent’s spouse told CBC News. “We’ve never seen our eight-year-old be afraid to be in a room [alone]. That’s tough for us.”In an email to parents, students and staff, Michalik said the school division will be reviewing all safety protocols, but no specifics on how that would happen or timeline were shared.The division is also making clinical services staff available for families and a guide for parents with suggestions on how to talk to their children about this incident, encouraging families to speak with them gently and listen to discomfort or concerns.Staff should have been warned: parentScott William George was arrested in connection to the incident at Darwin School. Court records show the 28-year-old has been a registered sex offender since he pleaded guilty in 2023 to sexual interference after groping a six-year-old girl.Staff at Darwin should have been alerted about George before Thursday’s incident ever happened — and that might have prevented it, said the parent of the Darwin victim’s classmate.The 28-year-old, who is prohibited by court orders from being in contact with children or being in spaces where they would typically be, breached those conditions in March when he was in the hallways at Dakota Collegiate, just blocks from Darwin.The parent said George isn’t even listed on the provincial government website for sex offender notifications.Manitoba has a committee that advises police on whether to warn the public about convicted sex offenders living in their communities and who might be at high risk of re-offending.An offender’s criminal record, psychological history and their support or supervision services are among the details reviewed by the committee to recommend a notification. Privacy rights and risks that might come with the alarm are also leveraged, according to the province.But the parent said George’s example shows it sometimes feels more is done to protect an offender’s rights than the public safety.”It just seems like we’re doing an absolute bare minimum to protect our children, and then every time something like this happens, the parents go up in a roar,” they said.With files from Erin Brohman
Improved sex offender notifications, school security needed after child grabbed, says parent
