I’m listing all of the incidents that I’ve experienced (that I can remember )since the start of my EA journey in late 2017.

On a regular basis I am subjected to: slapping, kicking, punching, pinching, spitting, sworn & screamed at, pushing, foot stomping & head butting.
Occasionally I am subjected to: body slamming, biting, hair pulling & threats
Once I was slapped hard across the face, whipped with a gait belt across the face just below the eye and knocked in the head by a students head

Sadly I’ve witnessed several violent incidents against coworkers & students.
This is physically and mentally exhausting.

Thanks you for collecting our stories and hopefully shedding light on this crisis!

As a teacher at St. Anne, I am lucky to work with many exceptional educators including our administration. Our school population has grown exponentially over these last two years, and throughout these changes, our administration has welcomed families and supported staff with this growth. Our admin are always outside on supervision and visible in the halls and classrooms making it a point to know student’s names and greet each with a smile. Our administrators treat our students with respect and kindness, and promote an environment where educators are supported to do the same. In such a big school with so many staff and students it can be difficult to create community but I feel this is a priority for administration and they have done a great job.

This school is a joke. 4 principals and nothing is ever done to fix a problem. Superintendent can’t even reply to an email. No support for students who need it. Teachers are horrible, don’t follow rules and make up their own. Screaming in students faces. Absolute joke of a school with zero accountability even when proven wrong. 0/10 do not recommend.

I work at St Christopher Elementary CS. There are supposed to be 10 EA s on any given day. We have been running at 7-9 since December. We have lost 3 EAs to some sort of medical leave during the school year. All of those EA s have 1.8 full time years with the school board. We are tired and burning out having our schedules changed daily. We are watching kids go without coverage, seeing them lose months from their education. In every classroom we have kids "bundled" together so that 1 EA can work with all of them. Some classes have up to 4 high needs kids in them for 1 EA.
The amount of sickness that has arisen in this school year beats any year I've worked as an EA. (19 yrs including supply). So everyone is always sick.
We have a medically sensitive needs wheel chair bound child in a class with a highly volatile child with autism. The child with autism is getting next to no help causing him to lose a whole year of school. We have two children in one class that both have autism, one is echolelic and the other is highly volatile. The one who is echolelic has now started copying the other one dangerous outbursts. That's not even the half of it.
We have an old closet that is used for a movement room. Room enough for a pressure canoe, mini trampoline a tiny tent and a little tykes basketball net. We have no program support area to take the kids other than the library if it's available. No classroom of our own for resources and such. Our lunch bunch happens in the library along side of the musical rehearsals. This is the hardest year I've ever worked in this job. Mainly because there is no where to go.
However, the EA s we have are not very motivated either. The supplies we get are warm bodies that know nothing of the profession! I have a college certificate in this profession and feel quite insulted that I had to wait 2 years after graduating to be considered to be hired, then another 3 years of supply before becoming full time. Now the profession is treated like garbage.
I love what I do, I hate what is being done to my career.

Staff members are regularly subjected to verbal, physical, and even sexual assault by students, creating an unsafe and hostile work environment. Despite repeated concerns being raised, administration and board officials have failed to implement effective measures to protect staff, students, and visitors. The lack of action has led to a decline in morale, with many staff feeling frustrated, unsupported, and undervalued.

Working with high needs students that run. We are working with more than one student in the classroom.This creates a safety concern. We are so busy that toileting is done with only 1 EA and student. Shouldn’t it be done with 2 adults at all times?