School support workers want training, better protection from classroom violence

With a new school year weeks away, the union representing school support workers is demanding the province do more to protect its 5,000 members heading back into the classroom.

Representatives from eight Nova Scotia locals of the Canadian Union of Public Employees took part in an outdoor news conference Thursday in downtown Halifax. Those locals represent teaching assistants, early childhood educators, librarians, bus drivers and many of the other people who support the work of teachers and principals.

Nelson Scott, a local union president in Cape Breton, told reporters he's been called as early as 4:30 a.m. by colleagues seeking advice.

"[They're] concerned members that are scared to go to work. They're tired to go to work," said Scott. "We need to fix this now."

Speaking after the event, Scott said many of the thousand or so Cape Breton-Victoria Regional Centre for Education workers he represents have been "slapped, bit, pinched, even sometimes [received] death threats from small children."

Scott has been a school custodian for 20 years, and said violence in schools wasn't as bad when he first started working.

Stories like Scott's are included in a new report prepared by the Canadian Union of Public Employees. The report is a cornerstone of a campaign to persuade the province to hire more support workers, raise their pay and provide them with adequate training to deal with violent students.

The criticism levelled by Auditor General Kim Adair in a June report on school violence is also a key part of the union's report. Her observations and recommendations are included in the 14-page report prepared by the union alongside internal surveys and comments by members.

Adair's report noted staff are not equipped to deal with the thousands of incidents of violence in the province's schools. Although there were nearly 27,500 violent incidents reported during the 2022-23 school year, the report said the full extent of the problem was not known "due to significant data-collection weaknesses."

Nearly half of respondents experienced violence

The union report, called Safe Staff, Safe Schools, said school support staff "are on the receiving end of most of these incidents." 

A union survey of members completed in April 2022 suggested almost half of those who responded experienced "violent incidents at least occasionally." The union noted 83 per cent of those workers were women.

"The demographics demand the issue of violence in schools also be addressed as an equity issue," the union report said.

Support workers are also quoted throughout the document.

"In my seven-plus years working as an EPA [educational program assistant], I have been bitten, kicked, slapped, punched, spat on (in the face), had things thrown at me, verbally abused, and been threatened," said one union member.

Another worker said nothing has been done to address the issue.

"Reports are filled out, but nothing has changed. We are told this is part of our jobs," the worker said.

"Workplace violence is traumatizing for those who experience it directly (support staff), but also those students who witness it happening to staff and classmates."

At Thursday's news conference, school bus driver Jennifer Cox talked about students who had "a terrible day at school" being placed on buses at the end of the day.

"They either were violent or something set them off, but they still need to ride home on the bus," said Cox, who works on the South Shore. "So then you have to prepare yourself for what could happen."

She said trying to deal with those students puts the drivers, other students, pedestrians and other road users in jeopardy.

Report blames understaffing, low pay

The union report blamed the problem on understaffing because of low pay and inadequate benefits, a convoluted reporting system and a lack of regular and consistent training.

As the auditor general did in June, the union demanded better data collection on violence in schools and more analysis of the data to be able to track and react to trends. 

The union is also calling on the Houston government to allow workers to be part of the discussion to find solutions. Earlier this year, the legislature's public accounts committee held a meeting focusing on the AG's report, but the Progressive Conservatives did not invite a representative from the Nova Scotia Teachers Union to speak. 

At the time, opposition leaders accused the Tories of trying to stifle critical voices, but Premier Tim Houston said his government "listens closely to teachers all the time."

Although not disputing any of the conclusions in the AG's report, Nova Scotia's Education Minister Becky Druhan said her department was already focused on the issue and she promised to update the provincial school code of conduct and to improve the data-collection system for tracking violent incidents. 

Druhan's office provided a written response to CBC. They said the province will have a draft of an updated provincial school code of conduct ready for consultation this fall, in addition to some initiatives to address school violence, including improved tracking of unacceptable behaviour. 

CUPE workers are in contract negotiations with the provincial government. Although the Halifax local reached a deal only a year ago, that agreement covered the period from Aug. 1, 2020, to March 31, 2024.