Monday, February 7, 2005
Parent rage
problem in schools
Principals report rising
abuse
By LOUISE BROWN / Toronto Star
TORONTO - Whether it's swearing at principals or barging
into class to scold the teacher, Canadian schools say they are seeing a rising
tide of parent rage. "When I was young and the school called our home, my
dad would ask me, 'What did you do?' " said Terry
Price, president of the Canadian Teachers Federation. "Now, there's such a
shift that many parents' first reaction is 'What did the teacher do?' They seem
to want to lay the blame anywhere but with their own children."
While school officials say most parents are civil and
co-operative, they note the same tensions that can lead to road or rink rage
can also erupt in schools. "A growing number of parents seem very
comfortable mouthing off at the school secretary, marching in and calling the
teacher names . . . often in front of the children," said superintendent Rauda Dickinson,
who oversees downtown schools for the Toronto District School Board.
"It's a form of parent bullying we're all disgusted to
see on the ice rink, but principals and teachers put up with the same thing in
schools," said the former principal.
"Probably once a week it happens that a parent can't
control their rage over their kids' marks, or a discipline matter, or because
they feel their child wasn't played enough during a game. Compared to a few
years ago, it's everywhere."
This month, Ontario teachers' unions will conduct the first
major survey at both public and Catholic schools,
asking staff whether they have been bullied or harassed by parents or students,
verbally or physically. The survey was designed by the Ontario Secondary School
Teachers Federation at the request of its members, said federation
vice-president Sherry Rosner.
"They told us at last fall's annual meeting that this
issue is arising more and more and needs to be studied."
In a nationwide poll of school violence, the Canadian
Teachers Federation found 59 per cent of principals across the country in 2001
had witnessed at least one parent verbally abuse a teacher that year, and about
23 per cent had seen a parent physically assault or intimidate a teacher, said
Price. The rate was higher than average in northern and central Canada -
including Ontario - and lower in eastern Canada.
The Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario's head office
gets calls every day from teachers seeking advice on how to deal with
aggressive parents. The union has produced a special booklet called
Parent-Teacher Relationships: Putting the Pieces Together, which includes
special tips on dealing with "parent harassment."
"It's not just sports parents who get abusive.
Everyone thinks they're an expert on education because everyone has been to
school," said the federation's Sharon O'Halloran,
who offers legal advice to teachers dealing with aggressive parents.
"A generation ago, teachers and other authority
figures were held in high regard. Now the pendulum has shifted and everyone is
suspect."
The Ontario Principals Council is concerned at the
frequency with which parents threaten to sue schools over Ontario's new Safe
Schools Act.
"Bullying is a real hot-button issue for
parents," said council president Doug Acton. "They can get angry if
their child is disciplined, or angry if their child is
bullied and the principal doesn't impose the maximum penalty."
Abusive parents are becoming a bigger problem across
Toronto's 175 Catholic elementary schools, said John Pecsenye,
head of the 4,000-member Toronto Elementary Catholic Teachers Association.
Principals at two Toronto schools asked parents to shut
down Internet chat rooms they had set up to hold daily instant-message bashing
sessions about teachers they disliked.
"They were, in effect, cyber-bullying teachers behind their back," said a board official.