Substitute teacher shortage cancels classes in Sheshatshiu
Former principal calling for housing subsidies for next school year
As the school year comes to an end, a principal in Labrador is adding up the number of classes missed because he couldn't find a teacher.
When teachers call in sick at Sheshatshiu Innu School, their students sometimes have to stay home too.
"Some days the substitutes are just not available," said Alan MacDonald who finished up as the school's principal on Friday.
MacDonald said there were at least 11 times just in the month of May when classes were cancelled because he couldn't find a replacement teacher.
"There was no other alternative," he said, calling it a "last resort."
The K-12 school has two classes of every grade except one class of Grade 7.
"You can't just combine classes some days because there are too many children and there's lots of high needs that have to be dealt with," MacDonald said.
That means if a Grade 3 teacher can't make it in, for example, his or her students don't go to school while the other class of the grade goes ahead.
High cost of housing
There are five or six retired teachers who act as substitutes in the Sheshatshiu and Happy Valley-Goose Bay area, according to MacDonald.
He believes that will drop to two or three next year — much less than the 10 or 12 substitutes needed to cover a school his size.
"The cost of housing in Goose Bay is astronomical and it's out of the range for a lot of teachers." said MacDonald.
"When they look at going places out of the city areas, going up north, they have a choice sometimes … Housing is usually subsidized and here the housing is not subsidized."
It's kind of hard to hang around and pay $1,500 to $2,000 a month rent.- Alan MacDonald, principal
He said there's a shortage of both teachers and substitutes and believes housing allowances would help fix the problem.
"If you don't know if your phone is going to ring and you might get called, you might not get called, it's kind of hard to hang around and pay $1,500 to $2,000 a month rent," MacDonald said.
"To make it better we have to either attract younger people to the area and we have to be able to offer them subsidized housing."
Housing subsidies ending
The Innu School Board didn't respond to repeated requests for comment but according to MacDonald, the board supplies teacher housing in Natuashish for its other school, but not in Sheshatshiu.
Schools that fall under the English School District in neighbouring Happy Valley-Goose Bay had a housing program in place but it's being discontinued.
"Leading up to the start of the 2015-16 school year the District recognized the difficulty employees were encountering in finding affordable accommodations in Happy Valley-Goose Bay and the potential impact that was having on our recruitment and retention of teachers," the English School District said in a statement.
"As the rental market appears to be improving for renters, the District is in the process of allowing its leases to expire in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, which will occur at the end of the current school year."
Five teachers at the three schools in Happy Valley-Goose Bay availed of the monthly housing subsidy of $700 to $1000.
There were never any housing incentives offered to substitute teachers through the English School District.
Accommodations are provided to teachers on Labrador's north coast and in isolated parts of Newfoundland.
Hurting students
Back in Sheshatshiu, MacDonald hopes things will change next year for students.
"Kids have to come to school on a regular basis so we can get the curriculum taught as it's supposed to be taught," he said.
"And unfortunately, that doesn't always happen because we just don't have, at this stage in the game, enough people to do it."
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
