A shortage of teachers on call, otherwise known as substitute teachers, is creating staffing problems in School District 57.
The lack of replacements to fill in for teachers who get sick, take leaves of absence or are involved in learning team professional development activities, reached crisis levels in April, according to Prince George District Teachers' Association president Matt Pearce, who raised the issue at Tuesday night's public school board meeting.
"We've never seen a month like April, nobody can recall as many leaves being denied or as many people being pulled off their regular jobs to cover for other people in the schools as we've seen this past month," said Pearce. "A lot of kids have had their learning disrupted because the board has not provided an adequate supply of TOCs. To be frank, the board has not met contractual and legal obligations over this issue."
One teacher complained to Pearce of not having the time out of class to accurately assess students on reading performance prior to report card time. A learning assistant from the same school was forced to cancel all student intervention groups for one day a week due to the unavailability of teacher substitutes.
Non-enrolling teachers -- counsellors, learning assistants, music teachers and teacher-librarians, and in some cases, principals -- are being asked to take over classroom duties to cover for absent teachers. Pearce said students enrolled in English as a second language programs and those with learning disabilities who need specialized instructors are especially at risk.
"Many of those students are on individualized education plans, which are legal documents between the board and the parents to say you will deliver certain services to those students," said Pearce. "Those services have not been delivered in many instances this spring and it's a major concern. I know of situations in schools where teachers have not been replaced and educational assistants have carried out the instruction in the class that day. That's a violation of the School Act and it's happened multiple times in multiple buildings."
Pearce figures the district needs to hire at least 50 certified teachers on call to address the problem. He knows of several retired teachers who have applied to the school board since the positions were first posted in January but have yet to be contacted.
"The fact they've had certified teachers apply on a posting and they haven't interviewed them for three months makes us wonder if that''s intentional or if they don't have the personnel to carry out those interviews," said Pearce.
"We know that in other parts of the province there are literally hundreds of TOCs looking for work, and to go and recruit those people is something that should have happened months ago."
As many as 20 UNBC student teachers who have now graduated are available to the school district and some have been already hired. Pearce said the board needs to organizes job fairs in the Lower Mainland or Kelowna, where there is a glut of certified teachers on call.
District superintendent Brian Pepper said part of the problem stems from the fact the equivalent of 17 full-time positions were filled by teachers who started the school year on call, their salaries paid by learning improvement special needs funding made available to the district.
"It's not usual to have a short supply in April, we typically do at this time of year," said Pepper. "We have a number of UNBC grads who are in the application process and will shortly be on stream, so there's a lot going on in terms of meeting the concern.
"It's a delicate balance, you want to make sure you have enough teachers on call to meet the need and at the same time you want to make sure the pool of teachers are working, so they stay in the district."
Pepper said school principals have the authority to move non-enrolling teachers into classrooms to fill in for a sick teacher and will take on teaching assignments themselves when the need arises.
