Itinerant teachers could be COVID worry
Boards confirm the use of roving teachers during the pandemic
The use of itinerant teachers for school boards is a common practice. The position provides school boards with a mechanism to fill vacancies in subjects and courses that are historically tough to fill.
An itinerant or travelling teacher is used to teach a variety of subjects, including music, physical education and French at multiple schools.
Niagara’s public and Catholic boards have confirmed the use of itinerant teachers during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Niagara Catholic District School Board communications officer Jennifer Pellegrini said, “Itinerant teachers would be in pretty much every school, and they would have two or three classes that they support.
“We have itinerant music teachers who are generally assigned to three schools, and they do them in blocks so they would do multiple classes in a single school on a single day,” she said. “We have two itinerants who travel to three schools per week, as they are needed for scheduling in various schools.”
Niagara Catholic also has nine English a second language teachers who have students from various schools on their caseload.
Carolyn Loconte, communications officer for District School Board of Niagara, said the public board has “centrally assigned staff who are assigned
to approximately five to 10 schools.”
Dr. Mustafa Hirji, Niagara’s acting medical officer of health, said while he understands schools will have supply teachers to cover classes, in a pandemic it is not the best idea.
Teachers who are moving between schools could be the vehicle that the virus hitches on a ride on, he said.
“What we have been saying is that we really need to reduce our number of contacts to limit the spread of the virus and the same principle applies here,” Hirji said of itinerant teachers.
Concerns about use of itinerant teachers emerged this week after a school board in Toronto confirmed Sunday evening an
individual assigned to five schools tested positive for COVID-19.
Loconte said DSBN has addressed health concerns.
“We’ve taken steps to significantly limit the number of schools that centrally assigned staff visit in person,” she said.
If an itinerant teacher has to go into a school, the teacher is required to complete daily selfscreening, wear personal protective equipment, follow all additional health and safety protocols, and log locations and classroom visits through a contact tracing app.
While Niagara Catholic didn’t provide specific examples of its health and safety practices, board chair Frank Fera said
safety and security of students and staff are at top of mind.
“Itinerant teachers are used to provide students with programming they may not otherwise have during the school year, such as music, art and French,” he said. “Niagara Catholic has balanced the value of these important classes with the need for student and staff safety, and will continue to review how we support itinerant teaching in a safe way for all.”