- A recent survey found that teachers and school personnel faced heightened violence during the pandemic.
- One teacher told Insider about her experiences facing abuse and threats from both students and parents.
- Focus needs to shift towards lowering tensions and supporting school staff, one school psychologist said.
Sarah, a middle school teacher in Las Vegas, Nevada, had already warned a student that they would lose their phone if they didn't put it away during class.
"She hid it behind her Chromebook screen. So I know she heard me," Sarah, a 32-year-old who teaches reading and writing, told Insider.
She said she gave the student a few minutes to "correct her behavior" during the incident this month. When the student did not, Sarah asked for the phone.
That's when the situation escalated.
"She started yelling at me that she wasn't going to give me her phone," Sarah said. "I walked over to my desk to get a pen and she threw her phone at me. She threw it so hard it ricocheted off my desk and hit the wall behind me, ricocheted off the wall and hit my microwave next to me and then fell to the floor."
Sarah – whose name has been changed because she worried her school might retaliate against her for speaking out about the abuse teachers face – said she had to report the student, with whom she normally has a "good relationship."
"If I hadn't just stepped to the side it would have hit me and hurt me very badly," Sarah said of the phone that the student threw at her. "If it hit me in the head I probably would have had a black eye or needed to go to the doctor."
Students know 'there's no one to stop them'
Sarah is one of many teachers and school personnel who said they've faced increased physical violence at the hands of students and parents amid the coronavirus pandemic, according to a new study from the American Psychological Association.
Of the 15,000 teachers and other school staff, including administrators, social workers, and school psychologists, who responded to the survey, many said they had concerns for their safety – particularly on matters related to COVID-19, such as teaching in-person or enforcing masks and social distancing.
Some 33% of teachers surveyed said they'd been threatened by students during the pandemic, as did 37% of administrators and 27% of school staff.
"I have been physically assaulted multiple times by students in the building and they know that not only is there no one to stop them but there will be no consequences either," one teacher said. "I ended up in the hospital the last time it happened."
A school staff member said: "I fear being shot and attacked all the time during in-person learning. I feel like I will die at work at the hands of a violent student."
The pandemic contributed to notable increases in mental health problems for students. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently found that the pandemic exacerbated mental health issues for students. Over a third of high school students surveyed experienced poor mental health during the pandemic, and 44% reported persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness.
Working with parents has been 'toxic,' a teacher said
Teachers, school staff, and administrators said they were increasingly threatened by parents amid the pandemic. Nearly 30% of teacher respondents said they were threatened by parents last year, compared to 42% of administrators and 18% of school staff.
At Sarah's school in Las Vegas, she recalled emailing a parent whose child was disruptive during class. The parent initially told Sarah that it wasn't a "serious matter," in emails seen by Insider, adding: "Can you not email me? It's your class Room keep it under control."
When Sarah had to report the student again later, the same parent emailed her again: "Do you have a problem with my Student??????????? Because we are about to!"
A teacher in the APA survey, which was conducted during the 2020-2021 school year, noted that "parents have been more difficult than the students this year."
One administrator said parents were using online teaching to "express anger towards teachers more often than in person."
"Our school system has been attacked online frequently," the teacher said. "Parents have not been supportive, they tell me my class doesn't matter, etc. It has been toxic working with parents in certain aspects this year."
The pandemic set the stage for dozens of verbal and physical attacks on school personnel by parents frustrated over schools re-opening, masking requirements, and vaccines.
In August, a California father attacked an elementary school teacher over a dispute about masking. A few months later, a Connecticut parent punched a school board member in the face during a public board meeting.
The threats mounted as well. A Virginia parent threatened to bring "every single gun loaded" while speaking against mask mandates during a school board meeting. In Florida, school board members said they were inundated with "threatening and vulgar" messages after the board approved a mask mandate. An Illinois school board member resigned after months of "unrelenting harassment" and finding 4 dead rodents in front of her home.
A staff member who responded to the survey said parents have been "very aggressive" during the pandemic.
"The majority of them have politicalized the situation and refused to conform to our health and safety guidelines," a staff member said. "I have received many verbal insults to me and my school concerning masking and social distancing."
While schools are shedding their COVID-19 precautions, school personnel have continued to face violence amid a slew of divisive policies.
These trends may continue or worsen if changes aren't made
Byron McClure, a certified school psychologist in Washington, D.C., told Insider that school personnel was facing abuse even before the pandemic, but virtual learning allowed more people to see it – and engage in it.
"A lot of these trends were prevalent even before the pandemic happened, and the veil was just removed and now everyone can see it," said McClure, who founded an organization to help educators utilize social-emotional learning. "If we aren't proactive in addressing these issues, then the trend will only continue."
States across the country have picked up contentious legislation, bringing the culture war into classrooms.
Florida passed a bill, dubbed by critics as the "Don't Say Gay" bill, into law that would limit teachers' instruction about sexual orientation and gender identity, and other states may soon follow. Some school board members in Daytona Beach, Florida, derided students who staged a walk-out in protest of the bill as "immature adolescents."
Several states have also banned teachers from covering critical race theory, a decades-old academic movement that suggests racism is built into American institutions. Some teachers said the bans will have a "chilling" effect on educators. Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin banned the teaching of critical race theory and launched a tip line to report teachers if they cover "divisive subjects."
Last June, a school board meeting attendee in Virginia was arrested after chaos broke out during parents' protest against critical race theory and transgender student policies.
McClure told Insider that any policies or legislation that is divisive will naturally create tension and mistrust in the education field.
"I think where we are now as a nation, as an education system, we have to do everything that we possibly can to provide people with factual information, to reduce tension across every side, and most importantly, do what's in the best interest of children," McClure said.
The best thing school administrations can do is listen to the key stakeholders, like teachers and students, McClure said. He also called for more school psychologists in the field to better accommodate students and staff.
"You have to take the feedback that you're getting from your teachers, from your staff, from your mental health personnel, and actually do something about it," McClure said. "You have to let them into policy decisions and help them make decisions around curriculum, about what their students need right now in the moment. You also have to involve students in this process as well."
If serious changes aren't made, McClure said, "people are going to leave." The APA study found that 49% of teachers, 34% of school psychologists, 31% of administrators, and 29% of staff had a desire or plan to quit their jobs or transfer.
Overall, there is a "very real concern" of a potential shortage of educators and school personnel in the future, McClure said.
"Education systems are becoming places that aren't conducive to people's wellbeing," McClure said. "What we see are people either leaving the field, making plans to leave the field, or switching across schools. When that happens, children are the ones that will suffer."