Violence against teachers

This column finally addresses a very real educational issue, violence against teachers.

"Every year I encounter more teachers, veteran and new, fearing for their safety. What's more, recent research suggests that their concerns have merit. ... Another, more recent survey of over 2,000 teachers in Quebec's French system found 85 per cent had experienced some form of physical or psychological violence, including threats and intimidation, at the hands of their students."

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2010/06/11/f-vp-smol.html#ixzz0qwKa9Hpb"

If you think this is only in the big city schools you are wrong. Personally I have been physically threatened and sworn at on numerous occasions. A hostile working environment is one of the reasons I chose to leave the profession.

In the past year at a school in this division a teacher had their home vandalized and spray painted with racial slurs. The RCMP did get involved but the kids were back in the same school after a brief suspension.

Another incident that I was told about involved teens breaking into a teachers home and helping themselves to their food, snacks and then trashing the place before they left including defecating. The students involved were suspended for a few days and when they returned the teachers who had their home violated were taken aside and told that they had better be "nice" to the returning students.

In another incident, that happened many years ago in this division, a teacher was physically assaulted resulting in injuries that if it were committed by an adult would resulted in jail time. Guess what, the kid was suspended briefly and returned to the same school. The teacher said that she would have quit except that she had children who depended upon her for support.

I could site numerous other incidences that have occurred right here in our community.

Imagine your workplace. Imagine that someone you work with goes to your home and spray paints racial comments on your home. Imagine that person simply gets three days off work and returns and you have to work with them. Would it not result in a hostile workplace?

How do you think your child feels sitting next to these students in a classroom? Do you think that your child will feel comfortable saying "no" to this problem student when "asked" to share his lunch money? Do you think your child will report the incident to the office knowing that when the troublemaker assaulted the home of a teacher, very little was done?

We as a society must sit down and find a better solution then simply returning serious problem students to the classroom.