‘We’re barely surviving’: How Peel Region educational assistants reached the finish line of a demoralizing school year

Bitten. Kicked. Punched. Scratched. Concussed.

Educational assistants in the Peel District School Board (PDSB) say they have reached a breaking point. One middle school in Mississauga made headlines just last month, when a teacher described an atmosphere of “violence and fear” in an anonymous letter.

But educational assistants across the school board say the problem runs much deeper than just one school. Some have taken early retirement; others have taken multiple mental health leaves; still others have stayed at work out of love for their students, but with the injuries to show for it.

One educational assistant told CP24 that when she started her career nearly 20 years ago, things were easier – EAs were able to identify the types of students they were comfortable working with, she said, and EAs who didn’t feel equipped to handle students with extreme behavioural needs didn’t necessarily have to.

“So much of our day is spent putting out fires, and preventing the teacher from getting hurt,” she said. “So in reality, it’s us who end up getting hurt.”

The educational assistant, who requested anonymity due to fear of reprisal from the school board, says the decline in working conditions can be attributed to a number of problems, perhaps most significantly the severe understaffing and recent funding cuts. But it’s the lack of a comprehensive job description which has made the field next to impossible to survive, she says.

The job description for EAs, also known as "special student assistants" within the PDSB, is surprisingly thin, and does not include physical intervention with students – particularly “large male” students with behavioural issues, who current EAs say threaten them nearly daily. According to multiple EAs who spoke with CP24, educational assistants with the PDSB have not had an updated job description since 1997. Representatives from the PDSB did not answer CP24’s inquiry about when this job description was last updated.

“It really takes a toll on your mental health. It’s not as easy as finding a new job or moving schools, because that would still be like jumping from one hot mess to another,” the educational assistant said.

“We’re barely making it through the year. We’re working like dogs and barely surviving.”

In an emailed statement to CP24, representatives from the PDSB said EAs can access mental health support through the Employee and Family Assistance Program, which offers employees individual counselling. The statement also said that EAs have access to medical leave “to support self-care.” In the event of a school or workplace incident, the PDSB says they provide “crisis management support for staff,” which includes debriefing sessions after the incident.

Julie Pemberton retired as a behavioural educational assistant (BEA) from the Peel District School Board in 2020 after 34 years on the job. She took a leave in 2018 before eventually retiring. Pemberton called the working conditions of her school “absolute chaos” – students would go missing for lengthy stretches of time, she said, and conflict with parents was frequent.

“I was working in a middle school for several years and dealing with a lot of violence and mental health concerns,” she told CP24. “I was in an ambulance with a student quite often, or in the hospital with a student for suicide attempts. These were situations way beyond my pay grade.”

Pemberton monitors a private Facebook group for educational assistants, and says she’s been taken aback by the number of members asking their colleagues how to apply for mental health leave from PDSB. And yet, on the other hand, she’s not really surprised.

“One member just wrote about it the other day – and you only have, what, six days left of school? But she’s done. And that’s very, very common,” she told CP24 last month, prior to the end of the school year. “If I had to guess what percentage of permanent EAs in the PDSB are currently on medical leave, I’d say it’s pretty high, like over 60 to 70 per cent.”

It should be noted that the PDSB has not provided any information about the number of EAs on leave, and it is unclear whether there is a higher rate of turnover among EAs compared to other job classifications within the board.

But the four EAs who spoke with CP24 all raised concerns about the dangers they face on the job.

 “I love these kids,” said another PDSB educational assistant who requested anonymity. “I don’t choose to go and work with a kid who wants to beat the s*** out of me. Deep down inside all these kids, as volatile as they are, they have feelings, and they want to share. They want to be a part of things. It’s really hard.”

She added that she empathizes with the parents – there’s a very specific type of grief that can accompany raising a special needs child, she said, and many parents have not yet processed that grief by the time their children have started school. That grief, combined with financial instability or parents’ busy work schedules, can have huge effects on the child’s behaviour at school.

“I shouldn’t have to do personal care for older, physically able students,” she said. “I shouldn’t have to dress these students, or toilet them – somewhere along the way, they’ve missed that, and it’s fallen onto us.

“I have been kicked, punched, scratched,” she said. “I’ve had infections from students because of fecal matter under their fingernails. I’m recovering from a concussion now. I’ve been head-butted. There’s a whole litany of things,” she continued.

“If something doesn’t change, this is just going to keep happening.”

In an emailed statement to CP24.com, a representative for OPSEU/SEFPO, the union which represents PDSB EAs, confirmed EAs are subject to physical abuse “including punching, kicking, strangulation, assault with weapons, spitting and biting.”

In the statement, the union said that PDSB “has not addressed this issue adequately,” referencing the “tens of thousands of incidents” documented over the years.

“Funding for educational supports has been cut year after year, so students in need are not allocated support, but EAs are still expected to provide it,” reads the statement. “Currently a large portion of ministry funding is redirected to administrative and resource positions rather than front-line positions that provide direct support to our most vulnerable students.”