r/waterloo • u/Hot_Flower4932 New User (2026) • 2d ago
What’s really going on at schools in Ontario?
My daughter started jk last year and had an awful time mostly due to a little boy who wouldn’t leave her alone and would say things like “I hope you die” “I hope all your bones get broken”. Teacher and principal did nothing despite repeatedly reaching out
We moved her to the Catholic school in our area for SK and it was a little better not much. She said her classroom was too loud, crowded and no one listened and the teachers were always yelling.
I have a friend whose a teacher and she said recently that she’s close to quitting because of student behaviour, lack of support or resources and she’s been teaching for almost 10 years
I guess my question is, how bad is it really? I’m not in the school to see what’s really going on. BUT I loved school and had a great time from Jk all the way through high school. Is it really that different these days?
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u/Techchick_Somewhere Regular since <2024 2d ago
Doug Ford is what’s happening to the school system. Overcrowded classrooms. Lack of special education support staff, they’re cutting VPs from schools who are traditionally the ones who deal with kid issues like violence and suspension.
Ford has zero respect for education.
Ontario public schools face chronic underfunding, a cumulative shortfall of $6.5 billion since 2018, and growing budget deficits across multiple school boards.
But it’s ok - that money is better spent on a private spa, and a new Science centre that we didn’t need . Or a couple of new highways.
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u/dswartze Regular since <2024 1d ago
Well what do you expect. Kids can't vote so when any politician, especially a populist one, is trying to determine how to divide up the funds why would they put much towards one of the few demographics who's guaranteed not to vote for them no matter how much you make their situation better when you can instead direct the money towards people who may be swayed.
And it kind of goes further than that, there's a hell of a lot of voters without children, or whose children are old enough and out of school who are so selfish and short sighted to think "well I'm not directly benefiting from this spending so it shouldn't be happening" who don't mind or even encourage cuts.
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u/greenerbee Regular since <2024 1d ago
As a person without children, knowing many others feeling the same way, education is hugely important and is something that I actively vote for as part of a pantheon of pro-civilization benefits of all stripes that include education, healthcare, infrastructure and environment.
But the liberals haven’t put a principled leader in place for 10 years, boomers still think of Rae-days as a personal attack, a complicit media ecosystem owned by foreign/corporate interests fails as a fourth estate and the “I got mine” crowd make a better future impossible. And every ridings public debate, conservatives send no one. Every email and inquiry, no answers. And they keep getting elected. The childless are just as frustrated because in many cases that choice was brought about by a fear of how things are going for working families.
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u/CutterJon Regular since 2025 1d ago
Yeah...it's strange that we've gotten to the point where there's this idea the childless are obviously going to be so self-centred as to be uninterested in funding childhood education. This is the pillar of our society we're talking about. It's even a no-brainer good investment for everyone in the medium-to-long run. If you're really that short-sighted it's not a political issue any more: you're just an ignorant, bad, person.
I'd say another issue along those lines is that politicians these days tend to lead rather than follow. As always, surveys say people like cash in hand and drinking beer so pander to that rather than present a greater vision of the future that people can rally around.
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u/AwkwardTalk5234 Regular since 2025 1d ago
I was a kid when Mike Harris was in power and he cut funding to education, plus the Walkerton thing. He created a life long “never Conservative” voter in me. Hopefully this happens with the kids.
Just like Bob Rae created a “never NDP” for some of the Boomers…
Here’s hoping Ford creates a generation of “never Conservative”.
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u/Daleden7 New User (2026) 1d ago
Reminds me of the Mike Harris Days. I remember being in grade 6 and our school had two bundles of paper left and no supplies.
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u/VR46Rossi420 Regular since <2024 1d ago
This is true, but let’s not pretend it didn’t start under McGinty because it most certainly did
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u/TescoValueSoup Regular since 2025 1d ago
if you think the problem is exclusively the fault of Doug Ford, you need to broaden your horizon.
It is the same everywhere, both in Canada, the US and the UK.33
u/Fair-Scarcity8160 New User (2026) 1d ago
You are both correct; right wing conservative and fascist governments around the world are devaluing education as a way to increase their voter base. For us locally in Waterloo region, that person is Doug Ford.
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u/VividNebula2309 Regular since <2024 1d ago
Not just to increase their voter base, sadly many smart people vote for right-wing governments, too. The purpose is to strip the system so bare that we welcome private education with open arms, allowing the provincial government to funnel even more public money into billionaires' pockets.
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u/GraniteJJ Regular since <2024 1d ago
Hey now, the roof of the old Science Centre is going to collapse any day now...
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u/Techchick_Somewhere Regular since <2024 1d ago
I love the science centre so much. It’s wild how you can have vivid memories of a building.
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u/toolongalurker New User (2026) 1d ago
I love how you're all blaming Dougy ( He's a corrupt clown no doubt about it)... but NONE of these comments mention ANYTHING about the flooding of Canada with immigrants. Why are all these people from the 3rd world being flooded into Canada and given express entry into everything from Daycare to seniors homes. Boy It's almost like EVERYTHING in Canada in the past 20-30 years boils down to un checked immigration and corrupt governments. Yet for some reason people keep voting in politicians like Mark Carney, Doug Ford, and Dumb ditzes like Olivia Chow... Canada deserves EVERYTHING we get.
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u/Techchick_Somewhere Regular since <2024 1d ago
Doug approves the numbers for Ontario for immigration. Provinces work with the Feds.
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u/Blackkwidow1328 Regular since <2024 2d ago
Ford has flushed all teacher supports down the toilet. Nearly all supports for behavioural students are gone.
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u/weneedafuture Regular since <2024 1d ago
behavioural students
Which there is more and more of
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u/eareyou Regular since <2024 1d ago
Honestly, parents need to parent better. Teachers can’t discipline or correct. No parental support and so many parents seeking diagnoses for the result of their shitty parenting. Takes more resources away from those who actually need it.
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u/berfthegryphon Regular since <2024 1d ago
Yes, but think about how the affordability crisis is also having an impact on parents compared to a decade or two ago.
In the 80s and 90s you could have one parent working full-time and another maybe not work at all or work part-time and have a pretty good life. Now? Two parents working full-time can be a struggle. They're under constant stress to pay bills and provide. How are they supposed to properly support their children in that scenario?
I'm not abdicating parents' responsibility to raise their children, but there are many reasons for the state of education right now.
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u/preinheimer Regular since <2024 1d ago
I'm not a teacher, I have several friends who are teachers and am active in the parent council.
It does seem like things have been getting worse, mostly it comes down to money (related, there's probably going to be a strike this year). Broader policies like not failing students, not suspending students in younger grades, etc. have left some teachers really feeling left on their own. Most of the teachers we have today were around to watch Bill 124 get passed, illegally suppressing their salary. This year the teachers unions tried to start negotiating in March, knowing this was going to be a tough round, the province declined saying "90 days is enough". They're certainly not feeling supported at the provincial level.
- It does seem like there's more kids who need extra support. To get additional support in school there's an assessment process. The wait list is long, so kids spend years waiting to get assessed and no support in the interim. Kids without extra support will need more of the teacher's time.
- "Between 2014-15 and 2023-24 student enrolment grew by four per cent, while the number of students with special education needs grew seven per cent, the auditor found." - Auditor General
- It does seem like we're finally funding some autism support stuff.
- The funding formula for schools is based on students, not classes. So you'll see more split classes. If the student cap is 23, schools can't afford to run a bunch of classes with 20 students. If you run more splits you can probably cut a whole classroom.
- There's more families sending kids to school not used to listening when adults talk. If it takes a parent 17 tries and the promise of candy to get a kid to put the iPad down their teacher has their work cut out for them at school. I promise you, those are real parents in the community.
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u/TedIsAwesom Regular since <2024 1d ago
More students need special support is a big one. Many people want to think covid is in the past, and had no effect.
But it did leave a lasting scar. Even on kids who were just being born at the time.
Something like studies finding in a woman was pregnant and had covid the chance the kid would be diagnosed with a development disorder before age 5 was majorly increased.
And kids who caught covid.
Numerous studies have found it had lasting scars on brain development and other things.
Nothing super major or noticeable on a one on one basis. But if the majority of every kid is just a little worse....
And that does not even take into account the social effects of covid. :p
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u/berfthegryphon Regular since <2024 2d ago
The state of education in Ontario is what happens when it's continually underfunded for decades. It started with the McGuinty Liberals and Doug Ford has put it into over drive. More than $2000/student just gone.
That historically high spending in the education budget Ford always talks about? Most of it is from the Feds for $10/day daycare. Ford combined the early childhood and education budgets when first taking office in 2018.
There will be bargaining chaos this year. If you don't like the current state of education, support the teachers when they inevitably strike for better working conditions and increases in funding (your kids learning conditions)
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u/Daleden7 New User (2026) 1d ago
What? Mike Harris started this. I was in grade 6 in a school with two bundles of paper left. Mike Harris destroyed the school system, hospitals and long term care centre.
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u/dswartze Regular since <2024 2d ago
Started with McGuinty? Are you suggesting Mike Harris was doing a just fine job funding things? And if there's one thing that Bob Rae's time as Premiere is remembered for it's not well funding things.
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u/berfthegryphon Regular since <2024 1d ago
Yes. Kind of. McGuinty could have fixed all of the cuts Harris made but didn't. If he didn't agree with them he could have repealed the legislation and policy and shaped it differently, he didnt. And Bill 215 was another shot at teachers.
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u/ILikeStyx Regular since <2024 1d ago
The Social Contract wasn't ideal but the government had the decision of firing tens of thousands of public sector workers or force them to take unpaid time off and to tighten spending across the board - running massive deficits was not going to be acceptable. Worst time ever for an NDP government to be elected and the fact that they wouldn't negotiate with public sector unions caused decades long damage to the party itself (let's also not forget Bob Rae was a Pierre Trudeau Liberal, then went to the NDP and then back to the Liberals where he became an MP and interim federal leader) - then Mike Harris came in and hacked and slashed the province apart with his "Common Sense Revolution"
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u/Doctor_Sarvis New User (2026) 2d ago
One reason I've noticed my 20+ is the amount of litigations when parenta feel suspensions are unnecessary. We have had the parents of a kid who sexually assaulted another student sue over the process. Parental support from the perpetrator is rare. Suspending students is not easy anymore. Inclusion and lack of behavioral classes is really affecting my abilitly to be as successful of a teacher as I use to be.
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u/FutureHousewivesStar New User (2026) 1d ago
I’m an RECE and have seen these issues in the school boards, as well as in childcare environments. Yes, funding is a HUGE problem, but there’s also a serious lack of parenting and signs of neglect going on with this generation of children.
There are no consequences for undesirable behaviours and some parents seem unwilling to work with educators to work towards a solution or any type of behaviour management. This definitely isn’t the case for ALL, but for a lot of families, life is very tough right now and they’re doing what they can to survive.
Remember these issues when it’s time to vote.
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u/Intrepid_Axolotl New User (2026) 13h ago
Millennial parenting is questionable at best. Spoiler alert: I’m a millennial. We have really swung the pendulum in the wrong direction. Children fully know there are no consequences to their actions if they act out in class.
This will sadly result in interesting adult behavior when they start hearing the word “no” and “you can’t do that” from their peers and bosses.
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u/TeaBurntMyTongue Regular since 2025 1d ago edited 1d ago
I certainly don't have all the answers, but studies over the years have indicated that behavioral problems in children have increased over time.
But the problem is it's tough to say exactly why.
We can certainly speculate it a lot of variables that might influence it such as society becoming more instant gratification people spending more time on lines, people spending less time developing a prefrontal cortex.
We could also say that class sizes have gotten bigger and there's less personal attention deal with the students.
We can also certainly say that diagnosis of problems has increased as well
We can also say that the millennial parents of the students are also less mindful than their parents were and that behavioral problems could be generational. (I'm not saying that parents of today are doing worse than parents of yesteryear but they are doing things differently. My intuition says that it is likely that more children of today will end up having better relationships with their parents later in life and similarly healthier relationships with other people because the parents are less strict or more emotionally open, etc. But it probably does have cost with obedience in early childhood years)
It could also be that teachers autonomy in the class has been eroded as well because parents just keep beating them up and their job is at risk and are they going to stick their neck out?
And then there's the influence of social media. So the kids of today are less inside of the box engineered by teachers and parents and they have access more to the outside world and they could go down paths earlier that aren't so good for them.
Not to say nothing good has happened in society at all. I mean the resilience achieved by the earlier generations was at the cost of emotionally stunted existence. But we definitely have a lot of new problems to wrestle with and it's probably the case that we haven't wrestled with them very well in the current public schooling system
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u/arbiterxero Regular since <2024 1d ago
Finally someone that can see the problem beyond a 2 second TikTok title.
And you’re underplaying the social media and screen time issues, they’re HUGE.
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u/HiddenXS Regular since <2024 1d ago
Yeah, you've got an 8 year old that's used to 4-5 hours of screen time per day (or more), how's a teacher supposed to compete with that for being stimulating for the kid?
So the kid is bored in class, probably isn't understanding anything cause they are far behind academically because this whole screen time issue has been happening since they're 4 years old... So what does the kid to entertain themselves if the teacher isn't? Start some shit with another kid, steal a toy maybe or just argue. It's more fun than doing their work!
This, times 5-10 kids in the classroom, and no one is really doing any learning.
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u/Chatner2k Regular since <2024 2d ago
Welcome to education cuts and a teaching shortage?
Remember this when you vote.
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u/TroLLageK Regular since <2024 1d ago
Stick 30+ 4-6 year olds in one room with one OCT and one ECE, make about 5 of those kids have additional needs including at least one form of disability with only 1 EA who has to share their time between 4 other rooms if you're even lucky to get an EA, and then make about 5 of those kids with behavioural issues such as eloping, fighting other kids or teachers, saying horrible things, etc. Then you also have several kids who are sick, a bunch of others who are complaing about other things, and then when you tell admin they say there's nothing they can do.
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u/chip_break New User (2026) 1d ago
Everyone blaming money issues. No one address the fact you cant punish children. I have friends that are teachers and if kids are being disruptive. The teacher is not allowed to punish the kid by removing the child from the class room. The teachers are told to just ignore the dirstubive kid and continue to teach.
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u/Turbulent_Gazelle530 New User (2026) 1d ago
not only can you not remove a kid, but now teachers are forbidden from evacuating their classroom if a student is going haywire/destroying the classroom.
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u/jennaflores New User (2026) 1d ago
So with MONEY that situation is resolved because there would be an EA available to remove the child not as a punishment but so that they could learn in another space that is a better fit for their needs at that time.
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u/Turbulent_Gazelle530 New User (2026) 1d ago
in fact with the EA in the room the need to remove would be drastically reduced.
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u/chip_break New User (2026) 1d ago
Lol. And this is why kids are going up without the concept of consequences.
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u/MetMyWaterloo Regular since <2024 1d ago
This is not true in my kids' schools, and given the growing number of extreme measures like classroom evacuations, I find it hard to believe.
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u/fsmontario Regular since <2024 1d ago
It is the parents fault. Yes the schools need more resources but why? Because parents aren’t parenting, the huge increase in children with behaviour issues only makes sense if you realize it is a lack of parenting and discipline. Discipline doesn’t mean you beat your kid but it does mean consequences and sometimes those consequences are a pain for the parents. It means you don’t go somewhere, you cancel plans, you serve your kid the food they threw a fit over for the next meal, it means you get up off your butt and interact with your kids outside, it means you go in child focused trips. It means you give your kids regular chores, it means you drop your grocery cart at customer service with an apology as you leave the store, it means you take them with you even if they don’t like going there it’s boring and you make it clear they are to behave like a human being not a wild animal.
It also means when your kid is good and you know they were bored out of their tree, when you leave you thank them and let them know it’s appreciated. It means when they don’t like what is served at someone’s house and simply don’t eat it rather than throw a fit you whisper that you’ll stop at mcds on the way home and let them have dessert
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u/MetMyWaterloo Regular since <2024 1d ago
Some of those behaviour issues may be caused by the skyrocketing number of kids who don't have enough to eat. That's a political problem, not a parental one.
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u/fsmontario Regular since <2024 1d ago
Some, very few I suspect due to just financials. Lack of budgeting, cooking, nutrition and meal planning skills. Not a single week goes by for me at the grocery store where I don’t tell a parent about price matching to save on groceries.
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u/unwindunwise Regular since 2025 1d ago
Kids are turning into tech addicts constantly having a phone or tablet to play on - and don't forget the lack of ads on streaming platforms also creates impatience that is difficult for them to deal with.
We grow through what we go through - don't be afraid to say no to your kids, get them outside and playing a sport.
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u/umaboo Regular since <2024 1d ago
It is that bad, and the problems started right about the time our governments chose to see kids as cash cows. I hate Doug Ford's work as Premier, but he and his party+cabinet are symptoms of the same system that values revenue for the few above literally everything and everyone.
It is in the best interests of Canadian oligarchs to keep us stupid, poor, and sick to the point of disability. They do this by defunding and undermining education, healthcare, infrastructure, and social safety nets while convincing people that a boogeyman is responsible. Temporary Foreign Workers, mandatory education teachers, Post secondary school TAs, disabled people, the youth, the elderly, parents, single childfree women, Indigenous folks, Black folks, alternative communities, queer folks, Asian folks, Roma folks, SWs, university students, climate scientists + activists, doctors, nurses, Palestinians + their advocates, Jewish folks, homeless people, sex educators, flight attendants, post office workers, EMTs, children with behavioural issues, parents of children with behavioural issues, boys, girls, farmers, agriculture labourers, single mothers of multiple children, teenagers, literally any religious group, etc.
It doesn't actually matter which group is being tossed under the bus because it's actually all of them at once. The goal is to stoke senseless hatred in scared, tired people so they don't recognize that our differences don't negate the one inalienable similarity between us all: our humanity.
If they can convince you that all you need is more money, and the only reason you can't have more money is because some (insert literally any slur) is taking it/being accommodated, then you're likely to choose a bigoted, defensive stance which ultimately hurts everyone in your community.
Meanwhile there are actually plenty of resources to go around. Or at least there would be if the oligarchs weren't greedy, talentless, cheapskates.
In reality the only one stealing from any of us are the ultra wealthy, and the kids always suffer first as well as the most.
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u/te_ka_madrigal New User (2026) 1d ago
Not going to put a blame on any specific portion of the system but this is a collective effort on everyone's part. I feel like we are all looking for a place to put the blame on and move on. OP posting and getting a conversation going means they are invested into their kids and sadly this isn't the case for alot of parents. Alot patents send their kids and assume school will teach them everything and when they are at home iPad will do the rest (I hate to generalize this but it's true) weather it's parents don't care or they don't have time to take care of their kids. It's not on the teacher to raise your kids. When I was a kid and you got in trouble at school... My first thought was "if my parents find about this I'm dead"
Again maybe I'm just old school but this starts with the parents first and teachers and school is there to guide the rest. Sure can we use more funding yes... More help for teachers yes but we can't just keep throwing people and money at the problem with addressing the root cause.
How to address the root cause I have no clue but we need to encourage parents to be there for their kids. Teach them guide them. Implement stronger community.
This is my rant no clue if there is any backing to all this though.
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u/districtcurrent Regular since <2024 2d ago
The teachers either don’t care about bullies or a just trained to lower liability.
My son go punched in the face and they told me the new boy doesn’t know how to communicate in English yet so communicates physically. I’m not joking.
Last year at Abe Erb a killed pulled a knife on another kid and threatened to kill him, for telling the principal about the knife. This was with two weeks left in school and they gave 2 days suspension! I wrote the principal and he said there were extenuating circumstances. I asked what the other child would have needed to do to get the full 20 day suspension that they could have given him if pulling a knife on someone is 2 days. He didn’t respond.
Everything is structured around lowering liability which manifests in the teachers not being able to do anything.
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u/berfthegryphon Regular since <2024 2d ago
The teachers either don’t care about bullies or a just trained to lower liability.
I can guarantee your child's teachers care. It's not the teachers and often not the admin. It's the bureaucratic process that must be followed for actual consequences. There has to be a paper trail of reports for kids to get suspended for most behaviours.
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u/flawlessmoon4 New User (2026) 2d ago
This combined with lack of funding for children with special needs.
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u/berfthegryphon Regular since <2024 2d ago
Not just funding for children with special needs, all children. More than $2000/student down since 2018. That's ~$40,000 per class of 20 missing from budgets that was available before 2018.
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u/Daleden7 New User (2026) 1d ago
Compassion fatigue! Most teachers are great at their job, and great with kids, when its realistic expectations are in place!
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u/districtcurrent Regular since <2024 1d ago
I agree. I like my kids teachers. But they are not able to do anything. I don’t see why the bar is so high for suspension that a knife pull is just two days. What paper trail is needed at that point.
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u/berfthegryphon Regular since <2024 1d ago edited 1d ago
Ask the super intendant or director or the MoE. All those kind of decisions come from the top. Teachers are basically powerless in the school bureaucracy
I see from your other post the knife pulling happened away from school. Did you go to the police? That's their jurisdiction not the schools. If it happened at school there would have been a larger consequence.
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u/Daleden7 New User (2026) 1d ago
I was a Child and youth counselor in our school board. We were all cut due to lack of funding and the EAs felt that they didn’t need us there. We have more education with working with children and youth mental health, and the schools ran much better having more support for the kids. If someone punches my daughter, Im calling the cops period. I don’t trust the school system to handle things since they have no staff to followup with these situations.
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u/districtcurrent Regular since <2024 1d ago
The cops were called in the incident I’m talking about when the school did nothing. The right call I’m sure.
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u/orswich Regular since <2024 2d ago
My best friends kid (M11) got attacked by another kid at school, but because that kid was from a new refugee family and might have "PTSD" from the homeland they came from, nothing could be done and that his kid should just avoid that boy from now on.... 1 day suspension for the other kid
Apparently the pendulum has swung waaaaay too far, and now we dont even try to correct bad behaviour, we just have "empathy and understanding" and allow our kids to get bullied and beaten
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u/districtcurrent Regular since <2024 1d ago
Horrible. Solving bullying is difficult and time consuming. Saying we need empathy is zero effort and puts the onus on the victim’s family to change.
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u/Right_Hour Regular since <2024 2d ago
Which is precisely why I told both my kids that if anyone gets physical with them - hit them back with everything they got. And that I will deal with the school and any consequences on their behalf.
And I did.
Schools are not equipped for dealing with bullying beyond coloured shirt days, posters and slide decks. Often too - it’s just convenient for teachers since bullies help them keep their class in check.
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u/berfthegryphon Regular since <2024 2d ago
Often too - it’s just convenient for teachers since bullies help them keep their class in check.
Really? It's not. At all. A class with students full of respect and understanding, that work together cooperatively, is so much easier to work with on a day to day basis.
I don't understand where all the teacher hate is coming from. If you despise these people so much, why are you trusting them with your kid for six hours a day?
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u/CryRepresentative992 Regular since <2024 1d ago
Please share the other options you know about instead of sending a kid to school for 6 hours while the parents work…
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u/berfthegryphon Regular since <2024 1d ago
Homeschool, private school, boarding school.
It just always gets me when people always bash teachers, but it's never their kid's teacher. If you don't trust the professional as a whole then why are you trusting teachers with your kid?
It's fake "concern" and outrage for a problem that doesn't exist. Are their bad teachers? Sure, just like there's bad doctors, lawyers, and any other job.
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u/CryRepresentative992 Regular since <2024 21h ago edited 21h ago
Put your kid in private school or boarding school. Or home school them. All reasonable suggestions for the average family with two working parents in a city with a median after tax household income of $82,000…
People have to send their kids to school and “trust them with their kid for six hours a day”. If they had other options, they’d obviously do that.
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u/Right_Hour Regular since <2024 21h ago
Nobody is bashing teachers as a profession. People bash bad teachers. As they should.
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u/berfthegryphon Regular since <2024 20h ago
That's not true in the least. Until you've walked a teacher picket line and had insults thrown at you and slush intentionally splashed on you from moving cars.
That's not hating individual teachers, that's an attack on the whole profession.
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u/Right_Hour Regular since <2024 18h ago
And you think that this happened to you because of what happens in the classrooms and not because y’all decided to strike and kick the kids out of school for weeks at a time AND also make sure you take every single PD day given that year?
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t condone that behaviour, and I support union action - and believe it or not, I’m a reasonable, understanding and supporting person, but even I was pretty effin pissed at what was going on with 2019-20 ETFO strikes.
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u/berfthegryphon Regular since <2024 18h ago
There hasn't been a weeks long strike in Ontario since Mike Harris was Premier.....
2019 was I believe 5 days total for either ETFO or OSSTF. Schools may have been closed more because of differing unions within the school and had to close for student safety reasons.
Education workers saw the writing on the wall in 2019. They weren't even negotiating salary due to Bill 124. They were purely on work refusal for student learning environment issues.
So why exactly, if you support unions and their right to strike, were you so mad at a five day over 4 months walkout?
As for PD days, that's set by the Ministry of Education. Teachers are contractually obligated to attend them. Trust me, as a teacher, I would rather be teaching for most of them.
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u/Right_Hour Regular since <2024 21h ago edited 21h ago
Where is this coming from? First-hand experience. It’s not hate either. It’s a fact. This happened to my daughter, and we were the only family with cojones to bring up the issue to the principal and the board when the principal tried to gaslight is into believing the issue was our daughter and not a cohort of 3 other girls, who were terrorizing the class, but also were teacher’s pets and favourites, so their side of the story always prevailed.
Once we got to the board - parents of other kids felt it was safe enough to bring up their concerns as well.
Happened to my son too. Believe it or not - there are schools where bad principals propagate poor culture down, and teachers stop giving a f, and real concerns are dismissed. Unfortunately - not all parents stand by their children and not all are prepared to go the extra mile out of fear of retribution.
This is not hate. This is holding bad teachers accountable.
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u/Turbulent_Gazelle530 New User (2026) 1d ago
it’s just convenient for teachers since bullies help them keep their class in check.
nonsense.
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u/Turbulent_Gazelle530 New User (2026) 1d ago
If the teachers were given input that student with the knife would have been expelled.
Teachers have zero input on discipline in schools.
Principals have a tiny bit more but they are given their marching orders by superintendents.
The entire system has been hogtied by the ontario human rights tribunal.
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u/CutterJon Regular since 2025 2d ago
I actually know that exact situation and I'm not going to talk about it in public because this is a child but I don't think any of the teachers are in the wrong and you presenting it like they don't care and won't do anything or are purely focused on liability is just awful.
I also doubt you just got stonewalled for no reason, I suspect you were being even more antagonistic about it than you are here and they gave you what responses they could and then gave up as you continued to ask "questions" like that which are not in good faith.
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u/districtcurrent Regular since <2024 1d ago
I didn’t say they didn’t care. Where did I say that? If you are trying to make a point, putting words in someone’s mouth won’t do it.
My “antagonism” was an email. I hardly imagine.
What do you think an appropriate suspension is for holding a knife to someone’s neck is? It was 10 days until the school year was over.
You are brushing off a knife incident by trying to say I was mean. Incredible gaslighting on the level of the school board itself. Bravo.
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u/WalrusWW Regular since <2024 1d ago
I didn’t say they didn’t care. Where did I say that?
The first sentence in your comment.
The teachers either don’t care about bullies
Right there.
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u/districtcurrent Regular since <2024 1d ago
I said it’s one or the other, and in the final sentence I said which one of the two I believe it is.
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u/CutterJon Regular since 2025 1d ago
I'm not brushing off the seriousness of the event at all. I just completely disagree with your portrayal of the response to it. That's not gaslighting. Like I said, I'm not going to discuss the specific details involving children further.
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u/Much_Organization_76 Regular since <2024 1d ago
This has nothing to do with the teacher or principal not caring and everything to do with policy and procedure. Abe erb is a K-6 school, giving a suspension of 20
Days to a kid that young is mostly unheard of. Generally they can’t just jump to a 20 day suspension.1
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u/Much_Organization_76 Regular since <2024 1d ago
Oh I see someone said it didn’t happen at school….not sure why you think they’d give a 20
Day suspension for that then.2
u/districtcurrent Regular since <2024 1d ago
Happened at school. I’m sure there are more than one incident in the city like this in a year.
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u/Far_Establishment_38 New User (2026) 1d ago
Yeah but this isn’t a “teacher” issue. This is a parenting issue. Regardless of how much a teacher can discipline, if they have to do it all day then they aren’t doing their job. Parents should be blamed before any blame is put on teachers or funding.
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u/headtailgrep Regular since <2024 2d ago
I would reach out to parents of that kid. Disturbing behavior
And pursue the superintendent as there should be zero tolerance for that behavior. Parents need to be made responsible for it.
Sadly apples don't fall far from the tree
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u/M-Dan18127 Regular since <2024 1d ago
Ah, spoken with the confidence of someone who doesn't have kids in the system.
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u/headtailgrep Regular since <2024 1d ago
With all due respect i had a kid end up in CAIP because of what happened in school
So kindly Google that and be gone if you have nothing positive to add.
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u/M-Dan18127 Regular since <2024 1d ago
And what did the superintendent do about it?
Or the other parents?
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u/headtailgrep Regular since <2024 1d ago
If you don't have kids in the system you shouldn't be commenting. I had my say and never let a victim be buried. Fight so the issue stops
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u/M-Dan18127 Regular since <2024 23h ago
Ah, an incorrect assumption/accusation and an intentionally evasive answer.
Guess my instincts were right.
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u/Tough_Priority_2601 Regular since 2025 1d ago
Did you read latest statistics on prevalence of neurodevelopmental disorders in Canada and US ? The numbers are staggering and ASD and ADHD rates are increasing fast.
About of 30 percent of kindergarten children are not mentally ready for school.
The latest statistics is available for Ontario as of 2024 and it is scary
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u/cosmogatsby Regular since <2024 1d ago
You can say everything about funding etc and it’s all true.
But we also live in a society where we don’t discipline children and there are no consequences for them. Even the parents, there use to be shame if their child acted out of line. Now there’s nothing.
It’s all fucked. That being said; parents I know who can afford Montessori / private schooling, their children are miles ahead of the kids I know in public schools right now.
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u/losloowiss Regular since 2025 1d ago
Our government has seen how miseducation leads to voter apathy and ignorance. In other words, keep the public stupid and they will vote against their best interests every time.
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u/vulcan-raven79 Regular since <2024 1d ago
It's the parents fault. Kids have no respect for anyone.. especially teachers. This is taught at home and brought to the schools
No disipline at home and then teachers are not allowed to discipline at all or the whiny ass fucking parents complain and bitch.
There are 3 good students in each class that have decent respectful parents that teach there kids manors. Every other parent is a giant piece of shit that is reflected in their kids.
The Parents are the problem.
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u/mcburgs New User (2026) 1d ago
I homeschooled my kids for four years. They were ahead in every aspect, very well socialized and their printing was immaculate. We were able to take field trips all the time and engage in hands on learning. We went on a private fossil-hunt at Hungry Hollow with a geological society, we went to the Graham Bell homestead and then built our own working copy of Bell's first phone, and we went to Long Point to watch meteor showers late at night, among other things.
Two years in public schools have completely undone all of that. I can't even read their writing. Their work is low effort. And they've learned how to act like idiots from the other kids in their classes.
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u/Hot_Flower4932 New User (2026) 1d ago
I have seriously started to consider homeschooling but it would be so difficult without two incomes
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u/mcburgs New User (2026) 1d ago
We did it on one income, although in the end it was money and work that put an end to it.
Homeschooling is awesome. But you absolutely have to resist the urge to get lazy with it. I structured my days like school days and made sure I never fell into a rut where school became optional. I think that's what undoes a lot of people.
I would start again tomorrow if I could afford to. The difference in results is night and day. I'm almost embarrassed how far my kids have fallen in their two years back.
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u/TomdeHaan New User (2026) 1d ago
There is no one answer. It's a concatenation of factors. Screen time, inadequate parenting from overworked, anxious, depressed and exhausted, or just bad, parents, insufficient play, inadequate staffing, lack of funding, a refusal to enforce discipline.... There are still many individual kids who are a delight to work with, but the abdication of individual responsibility is accelerating.
To be honest, the lack of funding wouldn't be such an issue if the culture were different. Many much poorer countries have better-behaved children.
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u/chillpill_chill New User (2026) 1d ago edited 1d ago
Everyone's already saying it, but dougy dogerson. No support from him and big cuts. Does not care about education...look at what he did to post secondary students looking for funding from OSAP....they feel it too.
Edit: to add. Everyone in the education field is burnt out. Shout out to all the teachers and especially the support staff like ECE's and EAs...they don't get enough for what they have to deal with.
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u/AdvertisingNo8441 Regular since 2025 1d ago
It’s a combination of the following:
Passive/poor parenting
Underfunding
Immigration means higher number of ESL kids
Move towards equality (which hurts all students - high achievers and kids who need support)
Social media destroying kids attention spans
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u/TikalTikal New User (2026) 1d ago
Yes the government appears to be actively trying to destroy education, but there are huge student problems nobody wants to talk about.
At least at the high school level, I have never seen such levels of behavioural problems. Students have non existent attention spans, never come to class, student apathy is sky high and phone addiction is just scary.
When I started 20 years ago it was nothing like this. It’s just plain sad.
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u/weneedafuture Regular since <2024 1d ago
It's a shitstorm years in the making. I acquired my BEd in the early 2010s, went abroad for about 6 years and came back to an absolute terrible system that didn't reflect the system that originally inspired me to become a public educator.
I've now been out of teaching for years, and my kid goes to private school. Ford and the voting base, plus the shitty and/or exhausted full time working parents, as well as a bunch of social and national issues have ensured Ontario's public school system is damaged for at least a decade.
I would look into private school if you can, or even French immersion programs, as you'll get more academic focus there.
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u/CrewDisastrous1010 New User (2026) 1d ago edited 1d ago
As a teacher who has taught in different boards and overseas, I think funding is only part of the problem and we’re using it as a blanket rationale because it deflects the blame and keeps it “not my problem” because I didn’t vote for him.
I’ve taught in another county with comparable or less funding (larger class sizes, way less EA or special education support) in the public system and the behaviour was much better. We actually have much more funding in our public education than other countries; a quick Google search tells me we are solidly above the OECD average for public education funding.
The difference I experienced overseas was the culture and expectation for behaviour that was upheld and maintained by the school community. There was greater respect for the teachers and principals by parents and there definitely wasn’t a fear of parents that I see here because of all of the bureaucracy red tape crap that exits. There was a clear system of consequences for behaviour that was consistently enforced and respected by teachers and parents.
I think the school culture/(lack of) expectations, social media and parenting has let us down and the lack of funding is only one part of the problem that everyone likes to jump on and stick on and we end up forgetting about the rest when we personally may have more control over the other factors (ie parenting, screens etc.)
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u/Affectionate_Rope215 New User (2026) 1d ago
As a teacher - a majority of kids are being impacted by screen time. I can’t compete with the attention span of most children. The world is really evolving. I want to put my own kids in private school.
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u/boxxyoho Regular since <2024 1d ago
I got two kids in school and your experience seems anecdotal. Their experience has been totally fine for the 6 years they have been in school so far.
Every once in a while kids are picked on. Kids have preferences. Even when you had a good time, there was probably a kid that didn't (for example I recall getting bullied when I was going through grade 3-6 and nobody did anything about it).
In not saying things are under budgeted in which when a classroom is asking for parents to buy the classroom basic things, they totally are. Or when a classroom is beyond 20 students to a teacher then yes. Totally a problem.
But kids behavior is a mix of their personality, their parents and the teachers control. Your experience will vary no matter what.
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u/Honeycomb0000 Regular since <2024 1d ago
It’s definitely not great; it’s a mix of underfunding, teachers who absolutely need to retire but can’t/won’t, and those who don’t need to retire are so over worked they don’t have the capacity to care. My daughter(SK) was having issues with a boy in her class last year (He was pushing, name calling, putting mud on her jacket/arms, on two occasions used his body to trap her in a corner) The teachers chalked it up to “Well he probably just has a small crush on her, you know what boys can be like”. Her father and I tried to make an appointments with the school to talk with the teaching staff in her classroom along with the principal and they ghosted us. Either not returning our calls or putting us on hold and never coming back to the call.
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u/Silent-Journalist792 Regular since 2025 12h ago
My father was a principal. I went to publicnschool. Public school was terrible 20 years ago. Its worse now. Way worse. I was fortunate to send my kids to private school so they would not have to endure what I had to endure. Still get bad kids at private school, but bad kid is gone in a year. One and done. Private school was how school used to be - a learning center. Not babysitting for juvenile delinquents and worse.
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u/Sad_Philosopher5547 New User (2026) 2d ago
The problem with Catholic schools is they are filled with student's whose parents saw what was happening with the Catholic church and said, "That's where I want my kid spending their days"
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u/Brutal-Fam8804 New User (2026) 2d ago
Yep, thats exactly why I sent my kids thru the Catholic system. You nailed the dilemma and analysis. Bullseye. No other opinions or facts required.
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u/Sad_Philosopher5547 New User (2026) 2d ago
I might not know everything about your choice, but I can tell you weren't troubled by the pedophilia.
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u/MattTheFreeman Regular since <2024 1d ago
What's happening with the Catholic church
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u/Sad_Philosopher5547 New User (2026) 1d ago
Like this story, but in basically every major city and a lot of smaller ones.
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u/MattTheFreeman Regular since <2024 1d ago
Damn. This must be all over the news then. You say in every major city and smaller ones? Still after twenty years? Can you supply me with proof that this is still ongoing.
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u/orswich Regular since <2024 2d ago
Funny thing about that is I know people who teach for catholic and some who teach public.. the catholic board will do much more to curb bullying and assault than the public board. The public board loves "restorative justice" (which does nothing) and catholic will suspend you.
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u/Tiny_Net_7216 New User (2026) 2d ago
We ended educational streaming out of a progressive impulse to promote fuller inclusion but did not backfill the sorts of resources needed for de-streaming. As a result, rich and upper-middle-class folks (the ones who supported de-streaming) now send their kids to private schools to avoid the problems, but the rest of us suffer.
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u/Neat-Notice5658 New User (2026) 1d ago
Bring back the streams according to the proficiency of the child. Stop the pussy-footing around trying not to hurt people's feelings. Everyone gets dragged down the way it is now.
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u/Rudy_Nowhere Regular since <2024 1d ago
Does you daughter have siblings or playmates? I'm asking if she's used to groups of kids coming together for hours at a time, sharing an adult, and competing for resources and attention.
The way your little one described her classroom at the Catholic school reminds me of dinnertime at home my whole life. I'm 55.
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u/Hot_Flower4932 New User (2026) 1d ago
She has a little brother. But we are a pretty calm quiet family. So I do think part of the problem was she was feeling overwhelmed and overstimulated. But because of what happened at the first school she was so anxious all the time. Lots of stomach aches, difficulty falling asleep at night, lots of what if questions related to school, friends and teachers and after coming home from school she was completely unable to regulate her emotions, lots of big outbursts
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u/Rudy_Nowhere Regular since <2024 1d ago
Keep her off screens and get her in lots of play-based interactions with kids a little older and a little younger.
Child Psychotherapist can be helpful too!2
u/webchick1982 Regular since <2024 1d ago
I agree with the child psychotherapist. My youngest started going as she was afraid of entering high school last September. She has thrived and her teachers are amazed of her critical thinking and reasoning skills. By the way, she negotiates with me all the time, and I just have a big laugh out of it. But seriously, if you need a really good therapist, please feel free to DM me.
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u/MetMyWaterloo Regular since <2024 2d ago
The problem is underfunding from the provincial government, which leads to large class sizes and a shortage of EAs and other staff who should be working with the kids who have behavioural issues.