What’s driving spike in ‘anti-social’ conduct in London-area classrooms?

Disturbing behaviour by students in London-area school classrooms are at all-time high, according to Thames Valley District school board’s top official.

Bill Tucker, the London-based board’s interim education director, spoke bluntly to trustees this week about what’s happening with students – including a child in his own family – as young people struggle to overcome gaps in learning and social development sparked by COVID-19 lockdowns.

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“Principals I talked to are seeing behaviours they have never seen seen before in both elementary and secondary schools,” Tucker said. “Kids in kindergarten and across the entire district and the province, in discussion with other directors, are displaying anti-social behaviours in learning because of COVID.

“We have some significant issues we’ll have to deal with on a longitudinal basis and we are prepared to deal with them. But it’s worth noting there are some behaviours coming out of that four-year period that will be very challenging for us.”

Tucker has personal experience with bad behaviour in the classroom.

”My grandson pulled the fire alarm in his Kindergarten class. Full disclosure,” he said.

Tucker’s comments come on the heels of a new report that finds Thames Valley suspension rates are four times higher than the provincial average.

In the school year 2022-23, the rate was 6.8 for every 1,000 students in grades 9 to 12 across Thames Valley schools, while the provincial average was 1.7 suspensions per 1,000 students.

“Our hope is that by reducing incidents, we can get closer to the provincial average, but we can’t artificially reduce suspensions. That won’t work,” said superintendent Dennis Wright. “We need to focus on the number and amount and severity of incidents, to wrap support around students and families to reduce that number.

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“When we’re doing that well, we should see ourselves closer to the provincial average.”

High suspension rates are not new to Thames Valley. In the 2018-19 school year, there were 6.9 suspensions for every 1,000 students in grades 9 to 12

In 2022, then-education director Mark Fisher announced 1,200 Thames Valley employees had taken extra training to reduce the use of suspensions.

“Studies show that even one suspension reduces the likelihood that a student will graduate within four or five years,” Fisher said at the time.

Male Black students in southern Ontario are two to four times more likely to be suspended or expelled than white students, recent studies have shown. Male Indigenous students were expelled three times more often.

The rising number of suspensions is attributed to several factors, including a more inclusive school environment and an increased prevalence of mental health and anxiety issues, Fisher previously said before exiting last month on a paid leave.

New policies such as progressive discipline, restorative practices and other programs “to prevent incidents from happening in the first place” have been implemented across the board, said Christine Stager, manager of research and assessment services.

Stager said Thames Valley’s expulsion rates “are low and have remained so over time.”

“Thames Valley expels very few students,” she said.

More data on suspension, expulsion and violence is expected to be released soon and will provide trustees with a better picture of what’s going on in schools, Wright said.

hrivers@postmedia.com
@HeatheratLFP

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