Heather Latter
The Rainy River District School Board has expressed concern to Education minister Liz Sandals regarding a new teacher hiring process that will impact occasional and new teachers seeking positions.
“What it means is we have to take teachers by seniority only,” explained board chair Mike Lewis, citing Regulation 274/12 only pertains to long-term occasional teachers right now.
“It doesn’t allow you to take people who have better qualifications, or who perhaps have experience as a long-term occasional teacher with another board and might fit better,” he noted.
Lewis added the regulation states only the top five people can be interviewed for a position.
And where there are redundant teachers, they can’t be interviewed, either.
“While we won’t have that as a situation this particular year in our board, there are lots of boards that do,” Lewis said.
“They wouldn’t be able to interview those people for occasional teachers.
“They’d have to go to the bottom of the list because they don’t have any experience as an occasional teacher.”
Lewis indicated the regulation is complex and that the provincial government
continues to meet with the unions to resolve some of the issues within it.
Regulation 274 was brought in last fall as a way to increase transparency and fairness in hiring.
“But we have that in our policies,” Lewis stressed. “A principal can’t just go out and hire who they want because they like them.
“And that’s what they [the province] claim they are protecting.”
There has been plenty of outcry from teachers across the province, with many saying it takes away the ability of the principal to hire those best suited for the position and makes it more difficult for new educators to land a full-time job.
Under the regulation, school boards are required to establish a “long-term occasional” list of teachers by interviewing all applicants who have been on the Occasional Teachers Roster for a minimum 10 months and have worked for at least 20 days during a 10-month period.
Then, when long-term assignments or permanent positions come up, the top five candidates from the long-term list who meet the qualifications and criteria, and have the most seniority, are interviewed.
Lewis said this regulation has an impact on teachers just out of college who rely on long-term occasional work as a way to “break in” to the education system.
In addition, he noted it is not favourable for small northern communities who seek specialists, such as physicians, who may have a spouse who is an occasional teacher.
“They would have no experience, no seniority in our board, so we wouldn’t even be able to interview them,” Lewis stressed.
However, with ongoing meetings regarding Regulation 274, Lewis said there is hope changes will be made.
“I urge you to indeed move forward to address the shortfalls of Regulation 274, and to put student achievement and well-being at the forefront of all decision-making by reviewing the Regulation through a truly collaborative process that involves both unions and school boards,” he wrote in his letter to Sandals dated May 22.
“Student achievement and well-being are priorities of the Rainy River District School Board,” Lewis added.
“The supportive relationship between the teacher and student is critical in engaging and exciting students in their learning.”
