French Immersion teachers, wanted immediately. School psychologists, wanted. Special education teachers, hiring now.
Those kinds of phrases, rare for much of the past decade, have recently been sprouting on education hiring sites used by North Shore school districts.
About 50 teaching positions are being filled in North Vancouver and West Vancouver school districts combined following a funding injection of about $1.3 million for North Van schools and $600,000 for West Van.
In most cases, extra teaching staff are being hired to help in classrooms with high numbers of special needs students.
That makes the most sense, said Martin Stuible, president of the North Vancouver Teachers’ Association, as funding for school districts negotiated in the wake of a Supreme Court decision is coming partway through the school year.
Some teaching positions that were previously part-time are being made full-time, said Deneka Michaud, spokeswoman for North Vancouver school district. Teachers on call have also been hired for regular positions. Michaud added every school in the district will be getting some extra staffing out of the 32 full-time equivalent positions being funded, which include
English, social studies, math and science teachers at the secondary level as well as elementary school teachers.
Some positions, like French Immersion teachers and school psychologists, are in particularly hot demand across the province.
In some cases, those specialists have either left the profession, retired or been hired elsewhere, said Stuible.
In North Vancouver and West Vancouver, school districts face additional challenges with the lack of local affordable housing. Many teachers who work in local schools don’t live here and may choose a shorter commute if a position becomes available closer to home, said Stuible.
In West Van, the school district is about 80 per cent of the way through its hiring for new positions, and is working on the remaining 20 per cent, said Bev Pausche, spokeswoman for the school district. Positions yet to be hired include a teacher-librarian, learning support teacher, elementary French Immersion teacher, all at Ecole Cedardale, and science teacher at Sentinel secondary.
