A multi-party negotiation process is underway that aims to place close to 100 teachers into Vancouver schools by mid-February.
Acting superintendent John Lewis made the announcement Jan. 16, noting that the Vancouver School Board (VSB) had reached an agreement with the Vancouver Teachers’ Federation in establishing the framework to find placements for 95 teachers in the city.
VSB spokesperson David Connop Price told the Courier Jan. 19 that where those teachers end up — on the West Side or East Side, or in elementary or secondary schools — is still being determined, though the positions will be “distributed fairly equitably throughout the school district.”
“VSB is consulting with schools and collaborating with the Vancouver Teachers’ Federation to establish where these additional resources will be most beneficial to address current needs and supports for Vancouver students,” he said.
It’s expected the final allocation of those teaching positions will be determined by mid-February. Lewis’s announcement indicates most positions will be filled internally at the school level to give part-time teachers full-time positions.
“Where this is not possible, we will proceed with our posting and filling hiring process to fill the additional positions as quickly as possible,” Lewis said.
The recent hiring announcement is tied to last November’s landmark Supreme Court ruling that restored class-size, class-composition and specialist teacher language that was removed from teachers’ contracts in 2002.
An interim funding allotment of $50 million was announced earlier this month. The VSB’s portion of that money is just over $4.4 million. That money will go towards the hiring of more than just frontline teaching staff, according to Connop Price.
“VSB will likely end up hiring a mix of classroom and non-enrolling positions, those without a regular classroom assigned to them, but the nature of that mix will reflect the results of the consultation process underway in schools and with the Vancouver Teachers’ Federation,” he said.
