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7 | W aterloo C hronicle | T hursday,June 13,2019 w aterloochronicle.ca THIS WEEKS DEALS! IN ST OCK 12MM THICK LAMINATE $127REG 3.99REG 3.99REG 3.99REG 3.99REG 3.99REG 3.99from per sq ft RANDOM LENGTHS JUNE 13 - 16 4 DAYS ONLY! THUR 9-9 FRI SAT SUN 9-9 9-6 10-5 IN ST OCK $167/ LIN FT$157/ LIN FT67¢ / LIN FT 67 / LIN FT 67 7/83 " 5¼" 5½" MDF PRIMED WHITE BASEBOARDS IN ST OCK PRINTED TILES NEW! $297REG 6.99REG 6.99REG 6.99REG 6.99REG 6.99REG 6.99/ SQ FTFROM FLOOR OR WALL IN ST OCK 12" X 24" PORCELAIN $179REG 4.99.99.99.99.99.99/ SQ FTFROM MODERN LOOK IN ST OCK $319REG 6.99REG 6.99REG 6.99REG 6.99REG 6.99REG 6.99/ SQ FTFROM HANDSCRAPED CLICK ENG. MAPLE HARDWOOD IN ST OCK SWISS-MADE LAMINATE 89¢1.591.591.591.591.591.59/ SQ FT¢/ SQ FT¢FROM89FROM89 HOT BUY! IN ST OCK LUXURY VINYL PLANKS $197REG 3.99REG 3.99REG 3.99REG 3.99REG 3.99REG 3.99/ SQ FTFROM 100% WATERPROOF 1362VICTORIA ST N. KITCHENER MON-FRI 9AM-9PM SAT 9AM-6PM SUN 10AM-5PM AREA RUGS! NO TAX on ALL in-stock NEW RUGS ARRIVING DAILY 4'x6' $4999APPROX FROM 5'x8' $6999APPROX FROM $15999APPROX FROM8'x11' that are outside of their core mandate. The Educational Assis- tants Association didn't respond to an interview request for this series, nor did WRDSB chair Jayne Herring. "That's the problem," Menard said. "No one per- son seems willing to take a stand. We're constantly getting the political an- swer." Darcy Santor, a psy- chologist at the University of Ottawa, has recently been conducting a study on violence and harass- ment against elementary educators in Ontario, and he said problems are "out of hand". The yet-to-be-released study is based on a survey of 1,400 educators across more than 30 school boards in Ontario carried out last December. They answered questions with respect to their experienc- es of harassment and vio- lence during the 2017-18 ac- ademic year. Santor said 72 per cent per cent of educators expe- rienced explicit verbal in- sults and 84 per cent of those said it had a negative impact on their mental health. More than half of respondents (54 per cent) said they were subjected to physical force by a stu- dent. "We've heard from teachers who have regu- larly said the profession has changed since they started and they'd ques- tion going into it now," Santor said. "The question becomes: What were educators hired to do? Teach the cur- riculum? Or were they hired to teach social, emo- tional learning skills and manage inappropriate be- haviour that's escalating to the point where it's im- pacting their mental health and the ability to do their jobs?" Santor said another major finding of his work is that consequences are lacking for many students who misbehave. "In Ontario they have a progressive discipline pol- icy, which means that you utilize a range of tools that go from prevention to health promotion and teaching appropriate skills, to the judicious use of consequences up to and including short-term and long-term suspensions," he said. "When we ask teachers, they say administrators are reluctant to go to this. They get pushback from parents, they're worried about what the school board is going to think, so they're kind of stuck in the middle. "But the result has been they are taking this one, very effective tool - conse- quence - out of the tool box." Santor said some prin- cipals are now relying in- creasingly on short-term suspensions, which ac- cording to some research, leads to more student dis- engagement and an in- crease in dropout rates. "All of the data suggests the more you can be to- wards the end of praising kids for good behaviour and using consequences that remove privileges, you're going to be better off than if you move to- ward the more aversive end, where you impose punishments," he said. "When I went to school, there was no way you lost it on the teacher, because you knew better and you were afraid of significant consequences," he said. "I don't believe those conse- quences exist anymore." Menard said a zero-tol- erance policy is long gone, and she believes school boards need a pathway that teachers can consis- tently count on to examine violent situations and act upon them. "No principal should be in a position to individually decide when a violent incident is seri- ous enough to be exam- ined and an outlined poli- cy followed," she said. Menard also believes there ultimately needs to be a change in how schools are structured to support an evolving population of students and their needs. Classrooms might be more inclusive than they were 30 years ago, but Me- nard argues we're now stuck in an "industrial model" from the mid 1800s, and if it stays the same, of- fering a safe learning envi- ronment will continue to be challenging. "Clearly there is a fi- nancial component here, too, and the board - partic- ularly now given the Ford government changes - will always have challenges finding the money to re- source schools with enough staff," she said. NEWS Continued from page 6 SHORT-TERM SUSPENSIONS MAY CAUSE MORE HARM THAN GOOD STORY BEHIND THE STORY Incidents of student aggression and violence at the elementary level are on the rise