ETFO Thames Valley says more than 950 violent school incidents reported in October

Craig Smith, president of ETFO Thames Valley, told Global News those figures are up from 512 violent incidents reported in September.

More than 950 violent incidents were reported across some schools in London, Ont., and the surrounding region last month.

According to a weekly update from the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO) Thames Valley released on Friday, there were 958 violent incidents reported in October, with more than 700 of them involving the use of an object.

Craig Smith, president of ETFO Thames Valley, told Global News that those figures are up from 512 violent incidents reported in September.

“In May, we had 599 reports and around 500 in June,” he said. “There are the usual workplace hazards that the teachers can suffer, like slips, trips and falls, (but) those are not acts of violence. These reports are interactions mostly with students.”

Smith called the most recent figures a “troubling increase,” adding that “in 20-plus years that I’ve been involved in this line of work, I’ve never seen numbers like that.”

“It’s not only a safety issue, but on a deeper level as well, it’s soul-destroying for teachers,” Smith continued. “It’s also got to be difficult for students who are not involved and immersed in these situations on a daily basis and are bearing witness to these incidents.”

He added that while there is a noticeable increase in these incidents, he also believes that more incidents are also being reported.

“We know that incidents of violence are usually underreported, but we think there’s more reporting happening,” he said. “But we need to do something about this pretty fast.