Hamilton school boards reporting daily staff absence rates between 1,200 and 1,300

Hamilton school boards say they are struggling to put teachers in classrooms as systems report average staff absences of more than 1,000 a day.

Schools reopened to in-person learning Jan. 19 for the first time since before the winter break amid a rapidly spreading Omicron wave of COVID.

It has been challenging," said Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic District School Board chair Pat Daly. The absenteeism rates have been higher than pre-pandemic. It was a challenge before the pandemic, so it's been exacerbated now."

The Catholic board reported average daily vacancy rates of about 504 - or 12 per cent - among staff, which includes educators, as well as administrative and custodial staff, and 212 among teachers in the first three days back to school.

On average, 75 positions of those were filled by supply and retired teachers, leaving the board scrambling to ensure classrooms were supervised.

We have reassigned all of our central staff," Daly said. But there for sure are ... unfilled classes."

On the first day back, about 35 central staff, which include specialist teachers and consultants, were deployed to classrooms. Principals and vice-principals are also filling in.

In Daly's memory, this is the first time in 37 years non-classroom staff have been deployed to supervise classrooms.

Everyone is working tirelessly to do what we can to keep schools open," he said.

At the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board (HWDSB), between 700 to 800 staff - 13 to 15 per cent - are not attending on a daily basis," spokesperson Shawn McKillop said in an email. It is unclear how many of those are classroom teachers.

We have seen these absent rates before," he said. We continue to maintain school operations with our staffing levels."

Reasons for absences include sick days, COVID-19-related illness, bereavement, religious holiday, union business and jury selection, among others.

We are using every staff available to support to fill vacancies, including system educators such as program consultants," he said.

In an email to The Spectator, Daryl Jerome, president of the local bargaining unit for the Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation, said his members are desperately trying to cross the Quadmester 2 finish line.

They are concerned about their own health and safety and that of their family as they are working in schools with unmasked students and rising absence rates," he said.

School boards recruiting retirees, uncertified teachers to fill gaps

Hamilton school boards say they are mobilizing former staff to fill in after Ontario announced earlier this month retired teachers would be allowed to work more days this school year to support classrooms.

McKillop said the board's human resources department is working on informing" retired teachers.

The HWDSB has a supply list of about 900 teachers, 400 of them currently on long-term-occasional contracts.

Available substitutes are not board-specific, and can pick up a job in and around our surrounding school boards," McKillop said.

The Catholic board said Wednesday it has 19 retirees on its roster, compared to about 10 last year.

In addition, school boards are hiring uncertified teachers for both elementary and secondary classes.

These individuals are pursuing a career in teaching, but have not completed their certification," McKillop said.

At the public board, applicants must be student teachers pursuing a bachelor of education program. At the Catholic board, applicants must be university graduates or enrolled in an education program.

Kate McCullough is an education reporter at The Spectator. kmccullough@thespec.com'"