Absences putting a strain on Hamilton educators

Some Hamilton schools are edging closer to the absences threshold that could trigger public health to take action.

On Monday, five Hamilton schools had at least a quarter of their students and staff population absent. A further 22 schools had between 20 per cent and 25 per cent absence rates.

Pat Daly, the chair of Hamilton's Catholic school board, attributed increasing absences to the recent increase in COVID transmission," especially in the last two weeks - leading to a significant shortage of staff.

If a school reaches 35 per cent of staff or students absent, it is flagged for public health to keep an eye on and consider interventions if COVID-19 is a problem.

Strathcona Elementary School had the highest absence rate at 30 per cent on Monday.

The provincial reporting system for school absences doesn't specify reasons - so it includes things like vacations, medical leaves, personal leaves and other illnesses, along with COVID.

But it's not unreasonable to say we expected (high) COVID exposures during the sixth wave," said Dawn Danko, the chair of the public school board.

At a meeting Monday, Hamilton's public school board called for reinstating mandatory masks in schools.

In a letter to the Health Minister, the board says it has seen increased self-reporting of COVID-19 cases by families since the beginning of April."

The same letter says staffing is becoming a major problem.

We are already experiencing unprecedented levels of staff absences that are significantly impacting our school operations," the letter says.

Whether it's directly or indirectly linked to COVID, we are seeing that we're in a situation that's not sustainable as a system," Danko said.

Calling it a vicious cycle," Danko told The Spectator that a number of staff members are getting redeployed to cover for other absences, therefore losing their preparation time and are then unable to deliver full programming to students.

That creates a strain on individuals and on the system where people are burnt (out)," Danko said. It can lead to consequences ... impacting the mental health and well-being of our education workers."

Daly and Danko noted the boards are hiring additional occasional staff, for both teaching and support positions, including retired teachers and those who are still enrolled as student teachers.

Both also agreed a higher number of classes are unfilled due to the shortage of staff, leading to a possibility" of school closures.

While our goal is to keep schools open and support students (with) a quality learning environment, that is very challenging to do," Danko said.

Ritika Dubey is a reporter at The Spectator. rdubey@thespec.com