Halifax school pulls teacher from retirement to fill slot in French immersion stream

A Halifax parent is disappointed her daughter's junior high wasn't more upfront about a teacher shortage at the school that was so dire it led a retired teacher back into the classroom.

Caitlin Keylor's daughter is enrolled in French immersion at Fairview Junior High School. 

She said she and other parents were told on Aug. 30 that teachers would be contacting them a few days before the school year's start on Thursday, Sept. 5. 

Keylor said she never heard from teachers and when she logged into the school's online platform for parents, the name listed as her daughter's teacher was "TBA 3."

"I felt frustrated as a parent because they had this information all summer long on Aug. 30," Keylor said. "I think it just would have been nice to offer a bit of transparency to parents and families that they are dealing with staffing issues."

An email the school sent to parents said that several teachers who had been expected to start the year with the school would not be available.

"We will have a retired French teacher start the year in 6-8," the email said. "We will also have a French Coach and other support staff in the room until we are able to complete staffing."

The head of the Nova Scotia Teachers Union is concerned about this. Peter Day said he's heard from members that schools have unfilled teaching positions and some teachers are being pulled to fill open slots.

"This is a major concern because when teachers are reassigned, it tends to be the resource teacher or a specialized teacher. These are the teachers who provide the more individualized supports for students and their families," Day said.

"If that teacher is being pulled from that position to cover other areas, then the students who are most in need end up not getting the supports that they truly deserve."

Day said the union has been warning the province for years about the "dire" teacher shortage.

He said some teachers have left the profession because of the workload and other concerns such as large class sizes, violence in the schools and air quality during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Education Minister Becky Druhan said the regional centres for education and the Conseil scolaire acadien provincial have reported they're "in good shape" in terms of staffing going into the school year. But she said some specialist programs, including French immersion, are facing a teacher shortage.

"It does take a number of weeks for the system to settle the staffing out to meet the needs of those new folks who are registering," Druhan told reporters on Friday.

She said the school system has more teachers than ever before, with hundreds of new graduates having recently been hired.

Druhan said the province is working on making teaching programs more accessible to ensure there are a healthy number of teachers in the system.