About 100 education workers marched in front of MPP Vic Fedeli's office in minus 15 degree temperatures this morning to protest a number of issues, including stalled contract talks and what they see as increased violence in classrooms.
Educational assistant Michelle Irvine has experienced that violence herself and seen increased violence toward others.
"I've seen classrooms trashed, chairs thrown, things thrown at our heads. I've been hit. I've been punched. I've had my hair pulled. I've been spit at. The language and profanity we get towards us is astronomical."
Irvine says it's so bad, the staff is forced to wear protective equipment.
"We wear kevlar sleeves and jackets, spit guards. If you have long hair it has to be pulled up so it doesn't get pulled out. It's hard because there are no repercussions for it."
Many workers are now on sick and stress leave, she says, and they are also seeing PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder).
"There are other children in the classroom that are seeing this violence happening to workers, but also seeing it happen to other friends in the classroom, but still have to go back to school in that classroom with those same students. I'm concerned about those children and what they are experiencing and the support they are not receiving because it didn't directly happen to them."
She feels the public needs to know what's really happening in today's schools.
"We need to know that these classrooms are not what they were when we went to school. We're seeing kids that are coming in with severe trauma and their only outlet for them to tell us something is wrong is through their behaviour and they aren't getting the support they need because we don't have the funds. We don't have enough bodies in these classrooms, yet they want to increase the classroom size but not provide more support.
"The teachers have 30 kids in there and they're behaviour management specialists. They're not able to teach the way they're supposed to teach. We have kids struggling because they can't read or write so they have to let aggression say, 'Something's wrong. I need help.'"
Troy Simkins, the president of OSSTF District-4 agrees with Irvine, calling it a "very serious issue."
"We keep bringing this up over, and over and over again and nothing is done. I have members, that even wearing protective gear, are still getting bruised up. I've had many of my members off with concussions and bad backs. And it's not just my members, administrators are having these things happen to them as well. so you look at the benefits side and the government doesn't even want to fund our benefits to what they are now. I have members diagnosed with PTSD."
Simkins says one of the reasons his members were marching today was that they have been totally overshadowed by the teacher protests, and says Education Minister Stephen Lecce refuses to talk about his member's issues.
"My members on average for our bargaining unit make about $33,000 a year but he won't discuss any of that. He's totally left education workers out."
