Public school board grapples with soaring staff sick days
Ottawa’s public school board is struggling to figure out what to do about teachers and classroom aides who are increasingly calling in sick.
The average number of sick days taken by employees at the OttawaCarleton District School Board has soared by 38 per cent over the past four years, from 7.85 days in 201213 to 10.87 days last school year.
The increase has been fed mainly by large jumps in sick leave among elementary teachers, early childhood educators who work in kindergarten classes, and educational assistants who help children with special needs, according to statistics provided by the board.
The early childhood educators and educational assistants took the most sick leave, with workers in both categories booking off sick an average of 14.4 days in 2016-17. Elementary teachers took an average of 11.1 days, while secondary teachers took 8.4 days.
The rising sick-leave rates have alarmed board administrators, who are implementing programs they hope will promote a healthier workplace and reduce absenteeism. The board is spending an increasing chunk of its budget replacing sick workers, and children’s learning is disrupted by the number of substitutes in classrooms.
Both administrators and union representatives say the problem is complex, with no one cause or easy solution. But they all agree that teachers and other classroom educators are under more stress. They are coping with complicated educational demands as well as more behavioural problems among children.
There also appears to be a growing number of youngsters who arrive in kindergarten emotionally unready to cope with the experience, having tantrums and displaying other disruptive behaviour.
There isn’t a lot of hard data, but education director Jennifer Adams says the situation at the board reflects provincewide trends.
The number of sick days taken by school board employees across the province is increasing, according to the 2017 report from Ontario’s auditor general. A survey that included the majority of the province’s 72 school boards showed that the average number of sick days increased by 29 per cent in a five-year period, the auditor noted. By 2015-16, the average number of sick days had risen to 11.56.
At the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board, a recent board discussion about sick leave revolved around children’s behavioural problems that are creating stress in the classroom.
The president of a bargaining unit that represents the board’s educational assistants and early childhood educators puts it more succinctly. “The violence is getting out of control,” Cheryl Cavell, president of the Student Support Professionals, said in an interview.
Educational assistants are responsible for behaviour, safety and medical needs of students. Her members report an escalating number of children with complex learning, developmental, mental or medical challenges as well as an increase in aggression, she said.
More support is needed so the assistants can work on preventing disruptive behaviour before it happens, she said. “You get a class with six behaviour problem (children) and an educational assistant who comes in for 20 minutes a few times a day. It’s a Band-Aid.”
Educational assistants have training in behaviour management but they are under increasing stress, she said. “A lot of them are going on sick leave, or they are just trying to struggle through.”
Some early childhood educators who work alongside teachers in kindergarten classes spend a lot of their time managing children with behavioural problems rather then the “play-based learning” they were trained for, she said.
In recent years the board has begun allocating more teaching assistants to kindergarten and lower primary grades to manage behavioural problems, Adams said.
The concern about rising aggression is bolstered by a survey of Ontario elementary school teachers that found that 70 per cent of teachers had personally experienced violence or witnessed it against another staff person. And 79 per cent of respondents said they believed the number of violent incidents has increased.
Janet Fraser, the president of the Ottawa-Carleton Elementary Teachers Federation, told trustees the provincewide policy of “progressive discipline” is part of the problem. It has created a culture where “there are no consequences” for bad behaviour, she said.
Teachers aren’t staying at home because they don’t want to work, Fraser said. Half the teachers in her union who are on long-term disability have “mental nervous disorders,” she said.
Teachers are dealing with “huge behaviour issues,” said Fraser.
Progressive discipline is a “whole school approach” that uses prevention, interventions, supports and consequences to address inappropriate behaviour and to build on strategies to foster positive behaviour, according to a Ministry of Education guideline advising school boards on how to implement it. It said the focus of discipline at schools should shift from “one that is solely punitive to one that is corrective and supportive.”
Adams told trustees that the board’s senior staff and principals are working to promote positive student behaviour. Recently, principals were briefed on progressive discipline, a policy that does not mean nothing can be done about bad behaviour, she said.
The board’s “safe schools” policy lists the progression of discipline that may be applied: written work with a learning component, withdrawal of privileges or withdrawal from class, detention, restitution of damages, conflict resolution, mediation, service to the school community, referral to counselling, suspension or expulsion.
Adams said rising sick leave rates also create an escalating “chicken and egg ” problem: students with behaviour problems may act out even more when their regular teacher or assistant is absent.
Trustee Mark Fisher, who first raised the problem of increasing sick leave rates back in 2016, said teachers and fellow educators are managing more complex classrooms. They are expected to meet the diverse learning needs of a wide variety of children while implementing new educational initiatives from the school board and the province, he said.
Trustee Donna Blackburn says educational assistants play a key role as children with special needs are increasingly integrated into regular classrooms.
She says more money could be found for assistants in regular classrooms but trustees have failed to endorse staff recommendations that would have trimmed money from special programs the board provides that are fiercely defended by parents of children who use them, including congregated classes for the gifted and a summer school for developmentally disabled children.
Another factor that could be contributing to rising sick-leave rates is the change in benefits made to the contracts of education workers in 2012. They lost the ability to bank sick leave for a cash out on retirement. Some suggest this has led to a “use it or lose it” mentality among some educators, who are consequently taking more sick days.
Before the changes, education workers received 20 sick days a year at full pay, and bank up to 200 unused days for a payout at retirement. Now they receive 11 sick days at full pay and 120 disability days at 90 per cent pay.
Trustee associations interviewed by the auditor general said the contract change was contributing to the increase in sick days. One association questioned why teachers could take up to 131 sick days when there are 194 yearly school days.
But there are also differences between school boards. At the Ottawa Catholic School Board, the sick leave rate among all employees has not increased as much as at the public board, and remains lower overall. The average number of sick days taken at the Catholic board increased by 13.6 per cent over the past four years, from 7.4 days in 2012-13 to 8.4 days in 2016-17.
That board has implemented a wide variety of wellness and attendance support initiatives, said a board spokesperson.