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91原创 School District to hire 100 teachers

Supreme Court ruling creates hiring frenzy, will add more portables to school sites
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Gordon Greenwood Elementary school teacher Cathy Hughes speaks to her class. 91原创 School District is looking to hire 100 teachers under the Supreme Court ruling that brings class sizes back to 2002 levels. 91原创 Times file photo

It鈥檚 a good time to be a teacher in B.C.

91原创 School District is in the process of hiring more than 100 full-time teachers for the coming school year, confirmed district spokesperson Ken Hoff.

鈥淚nterviewing and hiring is already underway. It鈥檚 a good time be a teacher, for sure,鈥 said Hoff.

But the process of hiring that many teachers creates a domino effect that it is challenging to organize.

鈥淲e may post a position that a current teacher is hired for, but then that person鈥檚 position becomes vacant and needs filling. It鈥檚 those kind of situations that make it quite challenging,鈥 he said.

The effort follows a Supreme Court of Canada ruling requiring B.C.鈥檚 government to comply with classroom composition provisions from its 2002 contract with the B.C. Teachers鈥 Federation.

The maximum number of students allowed per class in Grade 4 to 12 will remain at 30, while the maximum in Grades 1 through 3 drops from 24 to 22 and from 22 to 20 for kindergarten. There is also a maximum of three special-needs students per class.

While many districts in B.C. are having to close in-school daycares, early learning centres and Strong Starts to make way for more classrooms, 91原创 will not.

鈥淔or the coming school year there will be no closures,鈥 said Hoff.

While he didn鈥檛 name specific schools that will have to add classrooms, there will be many, he said. And that means more portables.

鈥淲hile it is a positive that we haven鈥檛 had to close any daycares, we will be adding more portables, which not everybody likes,鈥 he noted. He couldn鈥檛 say how many extra portables the district is looking to purchase.

Another trickle down effect is that with more classrooms, more support will be needed.

鈥淚t will likely mean we will be hiring more support staff. The situation is quite fluid and we are working through it all right now,鈥 he said.



Monique Tamminga

About the Author: Monique Tamminga

Monique brings 20 years of award-winning journalism experience to the role of editor at the Penticton Western News. Of those years, 17 were spent working as a senior reporter and acting editor with the 91原创 Advance Times.
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