Toronto School Violence, Difficult Behaviour on the Rise: Report

A police officer speaks to students at the scene of a shooting at Weston Collegiate Institute high school in Toronto on Feb. 16, 2023. Arlyn McAdorey/The Canadian Press

In a recent survey of Toronto school principals, 80 percent said they’re ill equipped to maintain school safety. About 40 percent said violent behaviour was on the rise, including physical fights and possession of weapons.

The rise in violence at the Toronto District School Board is on track to being the worst since 2000, when the board began collecting data, according to the Toronto Star.

The Toronto School Administrators’ Association (TSAA) surveyed its members and released a report detailing the post-pandemic uptick in school problems, a copy of which was obtained by the Globe and Mail.

Principals and vice-principals reported that student behaviour is more challenging now than pre-pandemic. A lack of staffing is partly to blame, they said, making the behaviour more difficult to address.

“Some administrators have indicated that almost 90 per cent of their days are spent dealing with issues related to student behaviours, crisis intervention, or student well being,” the report said.

The problems extend right down to kindergarten, where principals are seeing more scratching, biting, and hitting. Children are also having more trouble listening and following routines.

The Toronto District School Board (TDSB) has been in the news recently for violent incidents, including a drive-by shooting at one of its schools in February. Two 17-year-old boys were charged for allegedly shooting a 15-year-old boy in the chest in the parking lot of Weston Collegiate Institute. The boy was not killed.

In January, a gun was fired inside a washroom at East York Alternative Secondary School, part of the TDSB. Deputy Insp. Jason Albanese told reporters at the time that the bullet ricocheted off a wall and inflicted a minor wound on the foot of an outreach worker who was in the washroom trying to stop a fight between six students.

In November 2022, TDSB officials met with then-Mayor John Tory to discuss youth violence.

TDSB said in a release after the meeting that it was creating a Safe Schools Audit Team to ensure safety policies are being followed in schools. Other steps it’s taking include having student safety teams at all secondary schools, formalizing a network of existing experts and organizations to help at schools, and expanding after-school youth-support programs.