This is what the American Psychological Association says: School administrators have seen a lot of threats from parents during the pandemic.

“This is a new problem,” said a staff member who was surveyed. “It used to be the kids. Now, it is the adults.”

A report called Violence Against Educators and School Personnel: Crisis During COVID says that the aggression came mostly from parents who didn’t want their kids to wear masks, who politicized the pandemic, or who blamed the schools for their kids’ poor grades.

During the 2020-21 school year, about 15,000 employees took the survey. It revealed that one-third of teachers reported experiencing threats from students during COVID-19.

Administrators were the most likely to say they’d been threatened with violence by parents, with 40% saying they’d experienced it during that school year. Approximately 29% of teachers said that a parent had threatened them with violence.

Teachers in middle school were most likely to report receiving violent threats from students and parents.

Teachers reported being blocked online by parents when they attempted to contact them for their pupils’ needs.

“Parents have been more difficult than students this year,” one educator said. “Our school system has been attacked frequently.”

Another person claimed to have been cyberstalked because they support the Black Lives Matter movement.

Others have faced parental outrage as a result of the shift to online and hybrid learning.

“I have been called ungrateful, lazy, whiney, entitled, uncaring, heartless, selfish, stupid, and more,” a teacher answered in the report.

Students were the most likely source of physical aggression. All school personnel expressed “significant concerns” about their safety during the pandemic, especially their health in regard to COVID-19, according to the survey. Concerns regarding community safety, poverty, and children living in unstable homes were also raised.

“Participants cited the need for additional training and services for staff and students, including mental health, trauma-informed care and cultural awareness,” the report says. 

Physical violence at school was reported by 14 percent to 22 percent of staff, with social workers being the most likely to report being assaulted and teachers being the least likely.

“Even under conditions of remote or hybrid instruction, teachers and school personnel reported experiencing significant physical violence (e.g. objects thrown at participants, ordinary objects weaponized, and physical attacks), primarily from students,” the report adds.

When students switched to online learning, there was a drop in aggression, but it resurfaced when they returned to in-person classes.

Some social workers reported having post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as a result of being attacked on a daily basis, with one writing, “In September it occurred to me one of the reasons I was experiencing a reduction in stress was because I hadn’t been physically injured by a child in months.”

Another said, “Sometimes leaving the school worries me, as there are parents who believe we have ‘taken their kids away’ or called DCF [Department of Children and Families] on them. They may act rashly.”

A teacher wrote that they’ve been assaulted by students multiple times and “they know that not only is there no one to stop them but there will be no consequences either. I ended up in the hospital the last time it happened.”

Students who refused to wear a mask, according to employees, were not punished.

Educators advised districts to speed up the process of identifying kids who need special educational or behavioral supports, claiming that it takes an average of eight months for a “violent disruptive student” to receive such assistance. Teachers also expressed an interest in de-escalation training.

“I fear being shot and attacked all the time during in-person learning,” a staff member said. “I feel like I will die at work at the hands of a student.” They added, “The grocery store has better security than our public schools.”

During the 2020-21 academic year, 43 percent of teachers wanted to quit and 22 percent wanted to transfer, according to the survey. Administrators expressed a desire to resign in 27 percent of cases and a desire to transfer in 13 percent of cases.

These figures were greater in the Northeast and South, where 38 percent of school personnel expressed a desire to leave.

Employees who identified as LGBTQ also reported greater rates of dissatisfaction, with 45 percent of bisexuals and 41 percent of homosexuals and lesbians expressing a desire to leave, compared to 36 percent of heterosexuals.

Image Credit: Getty

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