Sister Mary Sabina Demuth teaches a Grade 5 class. (BCC file photo)
For the
second year in a row, Catholic Independent Schools of the Vancouver Archdiocese
are scrambling to fill teaching positions for September.
“Normally, our schools like to have all of their hiring done by the end of April,” said CISVA associate superintendent Lesya Balsevich. But by mid-May, she had done seven times more interviews than the average, and was still 40 teachers short.
“There is a supply and demand issue,” said Balsevich. “Every school district in the province is looking for teachers,” thanks to a court ruling in 2016 that won the B.C. Teachers’ Federation the right to limit class size and composition.
Reducing class size led to a recruiting blitz as public schools suddenly had to fill approximately 3,500 teaching spaces. Even though private schools were not directly connected to the court ruling, the scramble for teachers had a massive impact on them, as well.
“School districts were jumping the gun and hiring anybody who would be willing to come from anywhere.” They often have “the resources to be able to sweeten the deal,” said Balsevich.
“Last year we experienced a few people in our own CISVA just walk away from their jobs mid-year, because the public sector was saying ‘We want you and we’ll sign you up right now.’”
CISVA, and other school districts, started looking for creative ways to fill positions, including pulling teachers out of retirement, or offering short-term P.E. class jobs to people with no teaching experience but four-year bachelors’ degrees in kinesiology.
They have also recruited from across Canada and even welcomed teachers from Ireland and the United States.
“We’re competing against school districts that can have full time recruiters go out,” said Rob Mascitti, CISVA human resources administrator with two children in CISVA schools.
Another major hurdle is the high cost of living in Vancouver. At a career fair in Toronto, Mascitti found himself “in direct competition with Vanderhoof School District,” he said. “They can literally uproot their family and move to Vanderhoof and buy a home for $300,000. Compare that to what they would be able to buy here.”
While Vancouver is expensive, Mascitti says the local Catholic system offers something unique.
“It’s not just a school system. It’s part of faith formation,” he said. “You’re journeying with your children through their formation of being a Catholic person. It’s nice to see.”
At this point, Balsevich is unsure if all 40 empty positions will be filled come September. “There’s concern until we see the light at the end of the tunnel.”
That said, last year all empty positions were filled one day before classes started. She remains optimistic that they’ll hire enough teachers for by this fall, too.
“We’ve been down this road before. When I was hired here four years ago, we’d only interview, if we needed to, maybe a few in the summer and spring break because there was an oversaturation,” said Balsevich.
CISVA has weathered ups and downs before. “I anticipate another couple of years,” before teachers are available and up for hire again in Vancouver.