Region’s school boards to hire hundreds of new teachers

More teachers will be in the classroom when the first bell rings this fall.

A total of 278 new positions will be filled between the region’s school boards, with up to 169 extra teachers expected to be hired in local public and catholic schools.

Chief Communications Officer with the Waterloo Region District School Board Nick Manning tells 570 News they’re looking at having 114 extra teachers in their schools when classes resume in September.

“We’ve got 87 of those in elementary, 27 of those in secondary schools, but we’re also adding some other instructional staff as well, so classroom-based staff to help kids,” Manning says. “We’ve got 10 additional education assistants and 13 childhood educators.”

Manning says rising enrollment is driving that increase, as the public board expects enrollment to go up by more than 900 students in the next three years.

He attributes it to more people moving into our area, but adds that’s putting a lot of pressure on their schools in southwest Kitchener and Cambridge.

“That’s where the majority of the growth in our region is happening,” he says. “Trustees have approved the building of a new secondary school in southwest Kitchener and a number of other schools opening in the region to cater to that increase.”

Manning says with growing enrollment, the Ministry of public schools aim to have an average of 21 students per class.

“There will be cases where we have more and there will be cases where we have less,” says Manning, who adds the Waterloo Region District School Board is one of the region’s largest employers. “With a board with 63,000 students and 8,000 staff, there are lots of moving pieces.”