Many students spoke of the importance of being able to get to know a teacher well enough to get a sense of who they were, to see if they were trustworthy, to see them as human. Teachers were clear that they were discouraged from having conversations alone with students in order to protect themselves from charges of harassment:

Shut 'em down if they do [begin to disclose to you]. I had a personal experience with something like that...

This teacher talks about her experience with the disclosure quoted earlier and then when the student came to talk to her again, after the criticism she received earlier for being too informal she felt she had to behave differently:

At which point I felt that I needed to be extra-aware of my behaviour, and was very formal with the kid, and it made me feel terrible. I just felt like I needed things like witnesses, if this kid was going to talk to me further...teachers aren't allowed to be intimate, human or warm with students any more on an individual level. You safeguard yourself. You never find yourself alone in a classroom with a student any more because it can be used against you.

Second teacher: If you're in an office-say [a female teacher] and a male student are in an office-they have to keep the door open and there should be somebody else in the office, or the classroom, or if there's not then you move out into the hall. (Art teachers)

Teachers commented that many of the regulations deny simple human interaction that might make it easier for teachers and students to connect:

We're not allowed to use their washrooms. It's not bad enough that they can't use ours, but I can't walk into the girls' bathroom, because I might abuse a student. There's just something really human about standing at the sink washing your hands together. (Julianne Hodgins)

Students talked often of hiding and crying in the bathroom, making it clear that it might be a place where a teacher would see that a student is having trouble.

The opportunity for students to take control of who they will connect with and how they will connect with someone who might listen to the problems in their lives is increasingly limited. Students' possibilities of making connections are cut off, narrowing their chance of seeing connections between their problems at home and their difficulties learning in school, and excluding human connections which might enable them to access a range of supports.