Violence in schools on the rise say teachers in Oakville, Burlington, Milton

“We need funding and we need it now.”

That’s the message being sent to provincial politicians by the presidents of a pair of associations that represent Catholic teachers in Oakville, Burlington, Milton and Halton Hills.

The continued erosion of Ontario’s publicly-funded education system, according to the Ontario Public School Boards’ Association, has spurred the pair to send an open letter to several Conservative MPPs as well as the Minister of Education.

Vanessa Slee is president of the Halton Secondary Unit of the Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association and Tara Hambly is president of the Halton Elementary Unit of the Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association.

In a letter titled “Our Kids Are Not OK”, the pair highlight several issues facing today’s teachers and students:

• School violence has increased, which is taking a physical and emotional toll on students and teachers alike.
• Class sizes are too large for teachers to give students the individual attention and one-on-one support that they need.
• Recent briefing documents produced by the Ford Conservative government warn of a future that Catholic teachers already see in our schools – a growing and dire teacher recruitment and retention crisis.

“The system is at a breaking point,” said Slee. “Longtime teachers are walking away from the profession, just a few years from retirement because they’re overworked and exhausted.

“There are cracks in the system and action needs to taken immediately.”

Hambly pointed out that the Halton Catholic District School Board is currently facing a deficit of $25 million.

“When I started teaching about 20 years ago, teachers received about $100 for the year for classroom supplies,” said Hambly. “That number hasn’t changed, despite inflation. The max is about $150 for the year, which is $5 to $10 per student.”

The pair blame the lack of resources on deliberate underfunding by the Doug Ford government.

“As teachers, we only want what’s best for our students,” said Slee. “We need to set them up for success so they can be leaders in our society in the future.”

The lack of resources for things like educational assistants and mental health professionals also means teachers have to do jobs they’re not really trained for.

“Teachers are expected to wear all the hats, take on all the roles,” said Hambly. “That’s part of what’s causing the early burnout. Society in general has long waits for social services and supports, so it all falls back on the teacher.”

An increase of school violence, including at the elementary level, can also be traced back to a lack of funding, according to Hambly.

“Violence has been increasing the past few years, and I don’t blame the students. They’re not getting proper support in class and they are frustrated. It’s not their fault.”

In the open letter, the pair pleads with the government for more support.

“Catholic teachers want to do the job we love in a learning and working environment that helps students thrive and succeed. But we, along with teachers in classrooms across Ontario, cannot keep doing more with less.

“Halton Catholic teachers are on the front lines of this crisis, and we live these issues alongside our students each and every day. We know what they need to succeed, which is why we are calling on your government to end the cuts and provide real and sustained investments in education. Our students deserve better.”

Edyta McKay, the spokesperson for the Minister of Education, responded to the underfunding claims.

“Our government is investing historic levels of funding in public education, to a total of $29 billion to school boards this year including an increase of over $11 million for the Halton Catholic District School Board,” she said.

“Overall, per-pupil funding at the board increased by 17 per cent since we were elected in 2018. We’ve also supported the hiring of 9,000 additional education staff including 3,500 educational assistants. We have and will continue to support students in getting back to basics on reading, writing, and math in Halton classrooms.”