Montreal school service centres, boards ready for new school year amid teacher shortage

Three Montreal French school service centres and two English school boards came together for a rare joint press briefing on Thursday, ahead of the new school year.

Despite a teacher shortage in the province, with over 3,800 unfilled teaching positions as of Wednesday, the Montreal service centres and boards say they’re ready for another school year, but want to see action on their back-to-school challenges.

“While the reality of teacher shortages is not new, our respective administrations continue to do everything possible to ensure this does not affect the quality of education that our students receive,” said Judith Kelley, Chair of the Council of Commissioners of the Lester B. Pearson School Board.

“With this 2024-25 school year rapidly approaching, we felt it was important to form a united front to address the concerns regarding the recurring teacher staffing challenges facing our school boards and le service scolaire.”

Adding, “At the Lester B. Pearson School Board, specifically as of today, we have a shortage of approximately 70 teacher posts, most of which represent part-time contracts still to be awarded. Nonetheless, our school board is monitoring the situation closely with the intention of filling the positions by the start of classes next week. If there are still openings by the time classes begin, we will manage the situation to [minimize] any impact on the return to school for our students.”

Despite the teacher shortage, Chair of the English Montreal School Board, Joe Ortona says that the situation is moving in the right direction.

“As of Aug. 16, we had 239 unfilled teaching posts, 76 full-time regular posts, 112 replacement posts and 51 part-time posts. It’s important to note that these numbers are improving every single day,” said Ortona.

Kelley adding, “We understand that when these projected shortages are announced a week or two before the start of the school year, this can raise concerns for parents and guardians. However, one of our goals today is to reassure our school community by letting them know we are as determined as ever and ready to once again ensure a successful start to the new school year and to create an environment that is conducive to continued educational success of our students.”

As of Aug. 21, the Montreal school service centres and boards say they’ve filled 94.9 per cent of teaching positions. They say despite a number of challenges, they’ve been planning for months to be able to start the school year on the right foot.

They add that they’re supporting staff — including those who haven’t obtained a teaching license — by training them to meet the standards of education.

“We can ensure that every classroom will have a qualified teacher when school resumes on August 29th,” said Ortona.

As enrollment continues to increase at Centre de services scolaire Marguerite-Bourgeoys, the administration says they need more room.

“When we are growing, we need space, when we welcome people from all over, they have needs, So there is a space issue particularly in secondary schools,” said Paul St-Onge, from the Centre de services scolaire Marguerite-Bourgeoys in French.

The organizations are calling for help from the government. CityNews reached out to Quebec’s Education Ministry but did not hear back yet.

“We do need the support of the government to help universities proceed with getting more teacher licenses approved. Concordia University has a number of initiatives in place to achieve this goal and help us find more qualified teachers,” said Ortona.

Both Ortona and Kelley say proper investments into schools also needs to take place to help ensure safety and for infrastructure projects.

“It’s also important to share that we are investing a lot of money in our infrastructure. Over the last two years, and looking forward to the 2024-25 academic year, our investments will exceed $320 million. Right now, we have 32 projects in construction, with a total budget of $161 million,” Ortona explained.

“Another 26 are in the design stage now for $32 million, and heading into the next year, there’s another $44 million targeted into a wide array of other projects. We know it’s important, and parents, for parents, it’s important to know that we are investing in our buildings, and so that is a priority for us and we’re very proud of the work that we’re doing.”

Kelley adding, “To ensure safe and secure learning spaces, we have been investing considerably in infrastructure projects. This summer alone, we had 22 renovation projects underway, totaling more than $35 million. For the coming school year, we will continue with various asset renewal projects, or Matiandes Effectif, estimated to be in the area of $30.2 million. We will build our successes and navigate the challenges before us with the same resilience and enthusiasm that always defines our community.”