The Abbotsford school district has filled nearly 300 teacher positions over the summer but still has openings, as dozens of teachers have been lured away by offers in other districts.
There remain 10 full-time- equivalent positions for enrolling teachers (assigned to a specific class division) and six full-time-equivalent non-enrolling teachers (not assigned to specific divisions, such as library teachers, music teachers and learning support teachers).
Most of these positions have been left vacant by teachers who have recently left Abbotsford for jobs elsewhere, according to a Sept. 19 report from superintendent Kevin Godden.
Sixty-five teachers have quit as of Sept. 13, according to the report. Most of them moved on to jobs in other B.C. cities and towns, as districts have scrambled to fill positions required to meet contract language re-established following a Supreme Court of Canada ruling and a deal signed between the province and the teachers’ union.
Abbotsford school district’s human resources department worked with the Abbotsford District Teachers’ Association to relax rules restricting public job postings over the summer. The district was able to hire on-call teachers continuously and take on about 200 new teachers in total, in addition to existing employees in the district it hired for new jobs, Godden wrote.
Godden also identifies a small pool of on-call teachers and a shortage of special education teachers as “areas for concern.”
The district has also filled 25 education assistant (not classified as teachers) jobs since July, making a “full complement of instructional staff to meet student needs,” Godden wrote.
@KelvinGawley
kelvin.gawley@abbynews.com
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