The Greater Victoria School District is wrestling with the frustrating circumstance where substitute teachers sign up for a temporary posting in a classroom and then go on maternity leave, leaving the district scrambling and the children confused.
At Margaret Jenkins Elementary, one class had six teachers in one year. Three of the six worked for only a few weeks or months, and then went on leave. Parent Kristina Whitney said her daughter had eight teachers in two years at Margaret Jenkins.
In one school, a teacher accepted a one-year term position and went on maternity leave before the school year even started. The children in that class had two temporary teachers before the original substitute returned to finish the year.
The benefit to the teachers is that they gain seniority, receive benefits and have their employment insurance topped up by the district. The district might have to top up pay for three or four teachers in one classroom, which sucks money out of its budget.
Of course, the most serious effect is on the children. Those in elementary school are at an important time of their lives. Bonding with a teacher has an impact on their success; enduring a series of new faces can only harm their chances.
The district says the teachers are taking advantage of a loophole. The Greater Victoria Teachers’ Association says it’s more complicated than that, and the board is trying to discriminate against pregnant teachers.
From the outside, it looks straightforward. If you apply for a term position, the expectation of the employer, co-workers and most job applicants is that you intend to work for the advertised term.
Most such jobs are six months to a year long, so it’s easy to figure out whether you can be available for the whole term.
If you don’t intend to stay, don’t take the job.
When a teacher accepts a 10-month job, knowing that she will go on maternity leave in a few weeks or months, it looks as if she is gaming the system. And doing it at the expense of the children.
In response, the teachers’ association points to the reality of life for people who are trying to get a start in their careers as educators. They must work three to five years of temporary assignments before they can hope to get a continuing contract, so every posting is important in accumulating that experience.
The association says it’s also a human-rights issue.
“How do you deny someone a position because they’re pregnant?” asked union president Benula Larsen.
But it’s not a question of the district denying a woman a position because she is pregnant; it’s asking a teacher to think beyond her own interests by not applying for a job she knows she can’t complete.
Recognize that changes in teachers can be disruptive for youngsters who are in the early stages of a daunting journey.
It’s easy to get into a fruitless argument over whose rights are more important: teachers’ or students’. The association has already gathered 700 names on a petition urging the district not to change the rules. But instead of putting up walls around everyone’s rights and refusing to yield, the sides have to find solutions.
The school district is offering to find middle ground, asking that teachers commit to staying for at least half of the contract term. Most employers and workers would scratch their heads at even that.
However, it seems like a workable compromise and the teachers’ association should agree to it.
