Retired teachers to help fill staffing gaps at Ontario schools: Lecce

The Ministry of Education says it’s giving retired teachers more leeway to fill staffing shortages at Ontario schools hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a release Monday, Education Minister Stephen Lecce announced a new deal with the Ontario Teachers’ Federation (OTF) that nearly doubles the number of days a retiree can work, from 50 to 95.

The retired teachers will assist in both virtual and in-person learning when classes resume on January 17. The province said the measure is temporary, and will remain in effect until June 30, 2022.

Lecce said shortages existed before the Omicron COVID-19 variant took hold in the province, but its presence has exacerbated the already-troubling trend.

“Well before Omicron came to Ontario, school boards were reporting high rates of absenteeism from education staff,” Lecce said. “We need staff in order to continue providing live teacher-led remote learning and safely operate our schools when students return to in-person learning. That is why we have now secured an agreement with the Ontario Teachers’ Federation that will deliver access to thousands of teacher-qualified educators that will help keep schools open and safe.”

Ontario students were set to head back to classes on January 5, but the return was pushed back until January 17th over what Premier Doug Ford called a “tsunami” of Omicron cases.

The province said the extra time would allow more school staff and age-eligible students to receive vaccinations. The province also announced it would provide returning school staff with N95 masks and dole out thousands more HEPA filter units to school boards.

Before the decision to push back the return to schools was made, the province announced it would no longer record and report COVID-19 cases in schools and child care centres.