What’s behind spike in teacher absences driving $18M board deficit?

Trashing classrooms. Stabbing a teacher. Making death threats.

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A dramatic increase in the number of violent incidents in Thames Valley District school board schools is at the core of a spike in teacher absencesa union official says.

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“They (teachers) are off because a lot of them are injured,” Craig Smith, president of the Thames Valley district of the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario, said. “There is some connection, there, with issues of violence.”

He added: “The use of sick days is a symptom of a much deeper issue about the state of elementary schools in this district.”

Thames Valley District school board is looking at a $18.5 million budget deficitdriven largely by an increase in the number of sick day educators take and those on long-term leave for mental health issues.

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Since the COVID pandemic began in 2020, educator absences have become a major issue across the province, including in the Thames Valley board, that employs 14,000 people.

Full-time teachers get 11 sick days a year at full salary and longer terms leaves of 120 days at 90 per cent of their salary, he said.

“The sick day plan that the board thinks is overly generous. . . this plan was imposed on us by a previous government,” Smith said. “We didn’t create this plan and there are limits to the number of days we have.”

At one London-area elementary school, violence is almost an everyday occurrence according to, a teacher says.

She said her colleagues often need to take days off to recover from violent incidents, as well as burnout.

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“It’s a systemic problem; it’s a funding problem,” said the teacher who did not want to be identified because of fears of job reprisals.

A teacher at her school went off on a long-term leave last year after being stabbed by a kindergarten pupil with a ruler, she said.

“That student is now in Grade 1 and he is trashing the library and terrorizing the school,” she said. “This is not just unique to this school.

“It’s not an environment anyone would want to work in let alone let their children learn in.”

A budget deficit related to teacher absences “is not a new phenomenon and is very prominent across the province,” said Bill Tucker, former education director at the Thames Valley board.

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Now a professor in the faculty of education at Western University, Tucker said “extreme behaviors have become more prevalent in our classrooms.

“There is growing burnout across educational systems,” he said. “Education workers are not trained to deal with some of the most extreme behaviors schools have ever seen.”

As well, Ontario’s aging population is reflected in the teacher population, making them “more susceptible to illness.”

Since the pandemic began, teachers have become more aware of not passing along contagions when not feeling well and staying home so they won’t infect others, he said.

London trustee Marianne Larsen said she wants to find out more about why teachers are staying home sick more often.

“I think the board is doing a lot, but we can do more,” she said. “The pandemic took a very high toll on the social and emotional well-being among our students, and I would say that’s likely the case for many of our staff, too.”

Likely the “best way” would be to consult staff through an anonymous survey, Larsen said.

“I would also add that we need more money from the Ministry of Education to provide mental health supports for both our students and staff.”

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