Teachers who were recently issued layoff notices at the Upper Grand District School Board have been called back for the 2019-20 school year after reductions were made to a number of other budget areas.
Beginning in March, layoff notices were issued to 56 secondary school teachers and 54 elementary school teachers in the district.
In late May, those teachers were told they would be recalled, said Megan Sicoli, administrative officer in communications for the board.
Sicoli said the board has made reductions in a number of other budget areas, including reductions to school budgets, professional development funding, information technology (IT) and a reduction in other positions.
"Traditionally we would have a contingency built into the budget to protect us from unforeseen circumstance throughout the school year — this contingency is gone,” said Sicoli.
Further reductions will be required in future school years, said Sicoli, because for the first time the board is operating at a deficit.
“Although we were able to successfully recall all teachers this year, changes made by the provincial government to class size changes will result in fewer and fewer funded teaching positions in the system over the next four years,” said Sicoli.
The board must move toward larger class sizes because the Ministry of Education changed the funding model in secondary schools from one teacher for every 22 students to one teacher for every 28.
There are many courses offered by schools int he board that require staffing levels lower than 28:1, as outlined in its collective agreements with the teachers’ union.
“We will continue to honour the staffing levels in our collective agreements,” said Sicoli.
The board examined all educational programs for consistency and viability to succeed with a higher enrolment.
“Principals increased enrolment in both compulsory and elective courses in order to be compliant with collective agreements and the class size funding model implemented by the Ministry on March 15, 2019,” said Sicoli.
None of the full time teachers recalled will have their hours reduced to part time.
“The entitlement that the teacher had when they were issued the layoff notice was the same entitlement that they received back when the layoff notice was rescinded,”said Sicoli.
Calls for comment on Tuesday from the Wellington Catholic District School Board were not immediately returned.
