Local school boards address teacher absenteeism

Absenteeism among teachers in elementary and secondary schools due to the highly contagious Omicron variant has been, not surprisingly, an issue for many school boards across Canada, many of them with a shortage of supply teachers to call on.  

“In some of our schools, we have experienced, as anticipated, an increase in the number of staff absences on a daily basis, thus we are experiencing instances where these absences have not been able to be filled,” confirmed Algoma District School Board (ADSB) senior administration officials in an email.

With that, the board has had to adapt.

“With the coordinated efforts and professionalism of our teachers, support staff, administration in the schools and occasional replacement staff, we have been able to manage these absences, and provide the necessary supervision of our students, without having to close schools due to staff shortages,” the ADSB stated.

The board acknowledged that there have been some “daily challenges” to ensure adequate supervision of students.

“The reality is that many staff have had to be reassigned or required to support in new capacities to maintain safety and operations. We acknowledge and thank all our ADSB education personnel for their continued commitment in providing an exceptional and safe learning environment for our students during these ongoing, challenging times.”

As far as the Huron-Superior Catholic District School Board (H-SCDSB) is concerned, Superintendent of Education Danny Viotto told SooToday “with regards to teacher absenteeism, although we had anticipated and prepared for significant absenteeism since our return to school in January, due to COVID-19 and the Omicron virus, our data indicates that our related absenteeism rates for teachers is manageable at this time. We are hopeful that this continues.”  

The Huron-Superior board, Viotto said, has done its best to stay fully prepared for times of emergency.

“Although occasional teacher shortages have been a concern for the past few years, our board continues to conduct monthly interviews for occasional teachers to ensure that our schools are properly staffed each day. Our board has created a variety of alternate strategies when teacher shortages occur but for the most part, our schools are fully staffed each day.”

The replies from both boards come at a time when many other boards across Ontario and Canada - especially some in larger cities - have been calling on uncertified supply teachers and retired teachers to help out in the classroom.