One recently-retired teacher calls it the education system's "dirty little secret": the level of violence flaring up in Ontario classrooms on a regular basis.
Students are acting out by throwing furniture, smashing computers, spraying paint, hitting, punching, kicking and biting their peers and adults.
"There's an increasing issue of kids who are completely off the charts," former teacher Linda Schultz tells NEWSTALK 1010.
These are children as young as four with behavioural problems and mental health diagnoses.
Following the handcuffing of a six-year-old girl by police in Mississauga in early February, NEWSTALK 1010 has been examining the sometimes tumultuous learning environment students are being subjected to.
Today, we launch a three-part series, "Today's Classroom: Under the Microscope".