Violence in Schools

I have had several messages and conversations this week about violence in schools.

They were all unrelated.

They all had the same themes.

Those themes included disbelief at the intensity and frequency of violent events across all age of students.

The other theme was the disbelief that instead of walking out the disruptive student, the entire class is evacuated from the classroom instead.

One person reported that the kindergarten class was evacuated five times this year already.

You read that right. An entire kindergarten class has been evacuated five times owing to the violent disruption of one child. Apparently this is not uncommon. Ask your kid if in these lower grades.

The last theme in these discussions was concern for the impact and at times actual trauma of the other students witnessing these acts of violence.

If your child isn’t sleeping well at night or expresses fear about attending school, that may not be anxiety as you thought. It may be a realistic fear grounded in reality. That’s trauma. Again, ask your kid about violence literally in the classroom, let alone the school yard.

In all cases the discussions evolved to a belief that inclusion, as a social policy, isn’t working.

I don’t profess to have all the answers. But before answers, sometimes we have to ask some good questions.

“Why” is certainly among them.

I sure do believe underfunding and understaffing is a good place to start.

Even if new models of management were to be implemented, in the meantime we still must restore funding and staffing to meet the demands of students today.

Then, to address these questions further and as I have mentioned from time to time, we need to consult those who are working with the students who present the greatest challenges.

That is typically the educational assistants. Not the teachers or administrators.

Those closest to the issues typically can provide the most important information and suggestions.

There is a crisis in education. It’s here.

This government helped create it. Now it must answer for it.

For that, parents must demand those answers.

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I am Gary Direnfeld and I am a social worker. Check out all my services and then call me if you need help with a personal issue, mental health concern, child behavior or relationship, divorce or separation issue or even help growing your practice. I am available in person and by video conferencing.

Gary Direnfeld, MSW, RSW

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Gary Direnfeld is a social worker. Courts in Ontario, Canada, consider him an expert in social work, marital and family therapy, child development, parent-child relations and custody and access matters. Gary is the host of the TV reality show, Newlywed, Nearly Dead, former parenting columnist for the Hamilton Spectator and author of Marriage Rescue: Overcoming the ten deadly sins in failing relationships. Gary maintains a private practice in Georgina Ontario, providing a range of services for people in distress. He speaks at conferences and workshops throughout North America. He consults to mental health professionals as well as to mediators and collaborative law professionals about good practice as well as building their practice.