Kevlar gloves, blocking pads and face shields might evoke SWAT team imagery, but in local schools, that armour is not worn for combat: it’s for educating an increasing number of children prone to violence.
Threats and violence are becoming ‘shockingly’ frequent occurrences in Guelph and Wellington County schools, with the Upper Grand District School Board reporting 3,082 violent incidents in the 2023/2024 school year.
Examples include a student throwing items around the room but not at anyone, a student throwing items at staff, a student attempting to or hitting, kicking or biting a staff member and verbal threats of harm, said Heather Loney, UGDSB communications manager.
While the vast majority of incidents – 3,033 – didn’t result in injury or require first aid, 18 required health care and 31 resulted in lost time.
“I know a lot of colleagues that have life-changing injuries like concussions. I know two that I worked with in the past that have not returned to work seven or eight years later, and can’t look at a screen. That’s life changing, because a student hurt them,” said Tracey Mackie Vlietstra, the professional support services personnel president with the local district of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation (OSSTF).
She said the number of violent reports filed per day because staff have been hurt or threatened by a student is “shocking,” and “astoundingly high compared to the (amount of staff we have).
“I just don’t think people recognize what is going on, and it’s urgent that we respond to it by putting the supports in place to reduce those incidents.”
While Wellington Catholic District School Board has seen far fewer incidents – only 433 reports, and several of them duplicates – it’s still a growing concern among staff.
Instances of violence are happening more frequently and are “much more significant in terms of the injuries to workers (and) teachers. Those are the things that concern me the most,” said David Del Duca, president of the Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association (OECTA) Wellington unit.
One teacher lost the function of a finger, and can no longer wear their wedding band, “which might seem not really significant to some people, but also very significant to that individual. It has impacted activities of daily living.”
“In (full-day kindergarten) and up to Grade 3, we are hearing more and more that teachers are working in unsustainable environments because of the level of violence that they witness on a very regular basis.”
It’s a problem that extends across the province.
In June, the OSSTF called on the Ontario government for emergency funding after a survey marked an uptick in violent incidents in schools from the 2022 school year to the beginning of 2024.
According to a press release, the federation found that of its more than 6,500 members who responded to the survey and work in public schools from kindergarten to Grade 12, 75 per cent noted an increase in violent incidents since they started working in Ontario schools, and 31 per cent reported having personally had physical force used against them.
Respondents attributed the increase to large class sizes and a lack of resources, as well as a decrease in education assistants and guidance counsellors; funding would address this by bringing in more staff qualified to help with behavioural issues, like professional student support personnel.
During a press conference regarding the survey, OSSTF member and Stratford-area education worker Carlin Palmby said it’s normal for her to come home from work with bruises, bite marks and black eyes.
“I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had chairs thrown at me or my hair pulled and even ripped from my head,” she said.
Those most at risk are the staff who are most hands-on with students, especially those who work with younger students, like educational assistants, early childhood educators and personal support workers.
When a student has a violent outburst, protective equipment is often given to the educators working with them, like kevlar gloves, blocking pads, face shields, jackets, and shin and arm guards with high impact foam. At both local school boards, the type and duration of use is specific to the situation, and the boards provide training for using the equipment.
“We provide PPE when it is mandatory and to anyone where it isn’t mandatory who would like it,” Loney said.
Neither board has available data regarding how frequently such PPE is assigned, though communications lead Alison Lupal said an estimated four schools in WCDSB have safety plans with assigned PPE.
But it’s a reactionary approach that often comes too late.
Since students often arrive without a known history of violent behaviour, especially in the younger grades, Del Duca said the first incident tends to be the worst.
“That's very problematic. After the first incident, there's a report, there's conversation, there is a plan implemented, and that's when the equipment is provided. We need to be more proactive in helping students manage their behaviour and their emotions, and that comes from additional support very early in our educational system,” he said.
Further, PPE only addresses a symptom of the problem, not the problem itself, Mackie Vlietstra said.
“It’s also a hindrance to the job. There are some barriers to your relationship (with students) when you’re wearing a face mask or arm guards or you have to sit five feet away from students because of the safety plan.
"Our employees are professionals, but when you have a SWAT team face shield on, that’s a barrier to your relationship, that a kid doesn’t feel that you can trust them or you feel safe with them," she said. "But they’re so necessary to keep our colleagues safe."
It can make other kids in the classroom question their safety as well, with some struggling to come back to school after witnessing violent incidents, Del Duca said.
“That can cause serious trauma for the other students,” he said. “We have heard that parents are keeping students home in some scenarios, for fear and anxiety of additional violent outbursts that may affect their own child.”
“Students have a right to be in school, which includes our students who dysregulate, but as a person with grandkids in the system, I worry about what my grandkids see and how safe they are,” Mackie Vlietstra said. “I see junior kindergarten kids throwing chairs at teachers, clearing shelves and throwing wooden blocks and tables. Those are small children who are making a whole classroom unsafe and there aren’t enough people to respond to it to keep the entire classroom safe.”
Mackie Vlietstra and Del Duca agreed with OSSTF that the increase is due to a lack of resources, especially behavioural supports, and said increased funding is needed.
“It’s beyond urgent. Mental health needs are going up. Kids are less able to regulate, less able to problem solve themselves, less able to monitor their own emotions and their own frustrations than ever before,” she said.
In the past, a student with behavioural needs would have one educational support staff with them all day to support them, but now, there might be one staff member for as many as seven students. And with increasing class sizes, more mental health needs and funding cutbacks, there is no time to do preventive work.
“When I started this job 28 years ago, I recall very clearly… the board telling me their approach was 90 per cent prevention and 10 per cent reaction. And that has possibly completely flipped, that our response is 90 per cent reaction, because the needs are so huge.”
“I think every parent of every kid from junior kindergarten to Grade 12 should ask their kid every day, did anyone in your classroom get hurt today? Did anyone swear at your teacher today? Did anyone throw anything? Did anyone hurt another student? I think parents would be appalled to know what their kids actually see,” Mackie Vlietstra said.
- with files from thetrillium.ca -
