Violence rampant in Ontario classrooms, unions point to underfunding

Union leaders have released results of a survey looking into what they say is underfunding at local school boards. CTV London's Bryan Bicknell explains.

Union leaders representing educational workers have released results of a survey looking into what they say is underfunding at local school boards.

According to CUPE and the Ontario School Board Council of Unions the Thames Valley District School Board faces a cut of nearly $94 million in per pupil funding this year, and the London District Catholic School Board a cut of more than $31 million.

“The number of violent incidents our members face on the job has sky-rocketed because there is not enough educational assistants, or child and youth workers in the room,” explained Joe Tigani, President of CUPE’s Ontario School Board Council of Unions. He was taking part in news conference at CUPE 7575 headquarters in London, where preliminary results of a survey of educational workers were released.

Among the findings, 96.9 per cent of EAs/CYWs (Educational Assistants/Child and Youth Workers) indicated that they have experienced violent or disruptive incidents in their workplace. 61.3 per cent of respondents say their work area is sometimes evacuated because of a violent or disruptive incident. 9.9 per cent say an evacuation happens every day.

“So, this can be from being physically hit, kicked, punched, things thrown at you, to death threats. Sexualized comments, sexualized behaviour. The burnout rate is high, and they can’t continue doing what they’re doing in those environments,” explained Rebecca Avey, Educational Assistant and President of CUPE 7575.

The Thames Valley District School Board said it did not have anyone available for an interview to comment on the survey. It issued the following statement:

At a Thames Valley District School Board meeting on October 22, 2024, interim Education Director Bill Tucker addressed the issue of antisocial behaviour in schools. Tucker said, “principals I talked to are seeing behaviours they’ve never seen before in both elementary and secondary schools.”

He continued, “kids in kindergarten across the entire district and the province, in my discussions with other directors are displaying antisocial behaviours that they missed learning because of COVID.”

The release of the survey follows provincial announcements of new schools across the province, including six in the London region.

However, union officials call these ‘brick and mortar announcements,’ which won’t produce meaningful change if they’re not able to hire enough educational workers to staff the schools.

“You can have as many buildings as you want,” said Avey. “You can put that money into infrastructure all you want. If you don’t have the proper resources in those buildings, it is literally bricks and mortar. It is nothing else,” she said.