Teachers in Newfoundland and Labrador say violence is on the rise, averaging 22 incidents per school day

School staff are being struck more often, students are fighting more frequently, and police are increasingly being called to school grounds, according to data compiled and released this week by the Newfoundland and Labrador Teachers’ Association.

The union counted 4,052 violent or aggressive incidents that were reported to either school board administrators or the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary, making an average of 22 incidents inside of schools in the province every school day.

That’s the highest it’s been since the COVID-19 pandemic shut down in-person learning in 2020.

“It’s only a matter of time before something more significant happens,” said Trent Langdon, president of the union. “We’ve had circumstances in this province in recent years… of weapons being on the lot (school grounds).”

“My worry as head of this association is that one of my members or a student is going to get severely injured or worse in the days and years to come.”

The NLTA compiled their report by requesting data from the province’s English school district, the RCMP, and the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary.

Across just about every metric included in the report — fighting, choking, threats and harassment — violence has gotten worse over the past three school years.

The Royal newfoundland Constabulary, which patrols in St. John’s, Corner Brook and the Labrador West region, was called to schools 178 times in the 2023-2024 school year, compared to 111 times the year prior.

“We’re seeing it on a broader spectrum in the schools,” said Jerry Earle, the president of the Newfoundland and Labrador Association of Public and Private Employees. His union represents student assistants, who work one-on-one with students with learning disabilities, or particular physical or cognitive needs.

“Being around a (violent) workplace and directly sometimes involved, it takes a significant toll,” he said. “The work that our student assists do with our kids with exceptionalities so they can be part of our schools is challenging enough. It’s stressful enough.”

Ontario’s teachers have found much the same — over the summer, the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation released the results of a school violence survey that found reported school violence is increasing in that province.

According to the results from the survey, about 30 per cent of union members reported being personally targeted by physical force — including the majority of education assistants, child and youth workers and early childhood educators.

“We shouldn’t be normalizing this,” said Karen Littlewood, the president of the teachers’ federation.

“I go into a Canada Post office and it says ‘violence (and) harassment will not be tolerated.’ That’s in the doctor’s office. That’s in stores. We don’t get to say that in education.”

Littlewood doesn’t agree that the COVID-19 pandemic was a starting point — she says issues with school staffing and resources have stretched back years and are the root cause of violence in schools.

“I think we have to start by addressing the mental health issues of students, but we have to do that when they enter school. We can’t be saying, when you have a 17-year-old and there’s an incident that happens, ‘Oh, well, we should have done something.’”

She said many of her members don’t even bother to report violent incidents because their class sizes are still high, the paperwork is daunting, and they don’t feel much will change.

In Newfoundland and Labrador, officials at the Department of Education have brought in more school administrators and guidance counsellors across the school system and have created new positions, including one for a student services teaching and learning assistant.

“To date, feedback on these newly assigned positions has been positive and will inform any future expansion of the position,” Education Minister Krista Lynn Howell said in a statement.

“The Department of Education’s approach to violence prevention in schools focuses heavily on social emotional learning and self-regulation to limit or eliminate reactionary responses.”

Earle says Newfoundland and Labrador’s schools aren’t inherently violent — but the trend is worrying, and it’s time to intervene.

“We should be thinking about our kids and we should be thinking about that all the persons that work in our education system, and I think it’s something that we need to sit at the table and turn our attention to and figure out why has this happened.”