The combination of stable enrolment and retirements have both the public and Catholic school boards feeling optimistic they’ll need to hire teachers this fall.
The Greater Essex County District School Board expects to hire 15 French-language elementary teachers while the Windsor-Essex Catholic District School Board may need more high school teachers because of better enrolment numbers at the secondary level, along with a higher than usual number of retirees.
Both boards will hire off their existing long-term occasional teachers lists.
“I’m very optimistic with the enrolment numbers coming, they’re solid,” said Terry Lyons, the Catholic board’s executive superintendent of human resources.
“That could translate into some staffing opportunities. I can’t say exactly what that is yet.”
Lyons said 40 to 50 teachers are expected to retire this June. They are evenly split between the elementary and secondary panels.
Lyons said the pleasant surprise is that enrolment is better at the secondary level. That’s an area he said the board expected to take a bit of a hit.
“The public board is getting most of the Syrian refugees, but we’re still seeing an increase in enrolment,” Lyons said.
“The only explanation is the reports of people returning home (from other parts of the country).”
It’s the continuation of a trend that surfaced last fall.
Between the public and Catholic school boards, there were nearly 1,000 more students in the two systems from outside of Essex County as of last October compared to the previous fall
“I’m optimistic, but there are no guarantees of hiring people in the secondary schools,” Lyons said.
“We’re looking to maintain our enrolment. We’re hoping to be around 20,000 students next year.”
The public board will see 47 teachers retire this June with 36 of those being elementary teachers.
Superintendent of education John Howitt, who oversees the elementary schools, said those numbers are comparable to recent years.
Howitt confirmed the public board will require 15 new French-language teachers to meet the growing interest and the expansion of French immersion.
Whether any new hires will be required in the rest of the elementary panel won’t be known until enrolment is completed in September.
“Enrolment for kindergarten is down compared to last year, but we’re finding more parents are registering later,” Howitt said.
“We expect after late registrations, those number to be closer to last year. We’ll adjust staffing as needed in September.”
The board has already hired an additional 7.5 teaching positions in it’s English as a Second Language program to meet the needs of Syrian refugees and immigrants from other nations.
As of today, the board has taken in 301 Syrians and, as of March 21, another 73 non-Syrian immigrants.
The number of students arriving from other parts of Canada won’t be known until the fall.
“Fifty of the Syrian arrivals are in secondary school and the rest are in elementary,” said Sharon Pyke, a superintendent of education. “They’re clustered in JK, SK and Grade 1.
“They’ve mostly settled in the downtown core.”
Superintendent of education Vicki Houston, who oversees the public board’s secondary schools, said final staffing levels are still being calculated.
However, Houston said the board looks to be holding its own in terms of projected secondary enrolment numbers for the fall.
“It’s better (than originally projected),” said Houston, who added final figures will be released after they’re presented to trustees June 7. “I wouldn’t say they’re significantly better, but enrolment projections look good.”
Public board officials are expecting the fall enrolment to stay around the current level of just over 35,000 students.
