NSTU: Sub rules ‘softening’
Substitute teachers often move from school to school.
So what's to stop them from unwittingly carrying COVID19 from one classroom to the next?
“As a precariously employed person I really need to take what I can get,” said David Paterson, who has been working in Bedford schools as a substitute for the past month.
“And sometimes that's the night ... before the day of teaching. Sometimes that's the morning of. And I do my very best to stick within the Bedford family of schools and try not to have as much crossschool movement as I can. But sometimes there just aren't positions open in Bedford and I need to expand my circle on some days, which is not ideal.”
Education Minister Zach Churchill said Thursday that in his government's back to school plan, substitute teacher scheduling is restricted to families of schools. “So we have already taken steps to minimize the amount of contact points that substitute teachers are going to have in our system,” Churchill said.
During the summer substitutes were told to choose a school grouping, usually around nine or 10 schools in the same geographic area, said Mark Foster, a substitute in peninsular Halifax and Spryfield.
“I can take sub jobs at any schools in the grouping, though I am fortunate enough to have consistent work at two schools in the area,” Foster said.
RULES CHANGED
But since the school year started, the process has been amended, he said. “Subs can now take jobs outside of their grouping but only if there are no subs available in the grouping of the school in question and the job is taken the day before or morning of the regular teacher's absence.”
With COVID-19 now discovered in two different school regions in this province, that worries Nova Scotia Teachers Union President Paul Wozney.
“It represents a softening of what was touted as part of the robust COVID-19 prevention strategy in our schools,” Wozney said. “And it's being relaxed purely for operational reasons.”
Ideally, the school grouping rule would remain intact to
protect both subs and students, Wozney said. “But what that means is we’re going to have schools that need to be closed (due to a lack of teachers) because we’re going to be rigid about public health protocols.”
A substitute teacher could do everything right in terms of hand-washing, keeping their distance and wearing a mask and still contract the coronavirus from students in one classroom, Wozney said. “I may end up in another room of kids tomorrow before public health can track me down and all of sudden, I’ve spread COVID-19.”
Substitutes earn about $190 a day, he said.
“A substitute teacher does not have paid sick leave. A substitute teacher does not have medical benefits paid for by the employer,” Wozney said. “There are no protections for substitute teachers who are COVID-19 positive as a result of going to work and doing their job.”
As recently as four years ago, what’s now termed the Halifax Regional Centre for Education had 1,600 registered substitute teachers, he said. “This year, they’re down below 900,” he said, noting those are fully qualified teachers.
There are lots of retired teachers who can substitute for 100 days a year without impacting their pension benefits, he said. But many of them aren’t subbing, Wozney said.
“People who are retired are 55 and over and they are the most at-risk group for the most dire impacts of COVID19. So a lot of those people are not in circulation.”
‘MORE BALLS IN THE AIR’
Foster graduated in April of 2019 from Mount Saint Vincent University and started working as a substitute teacher right away.
“I’ve been lucky enough to limit myself down to two schools,” he said.
“It’s a different year for sure. There are more balls to keep in the air making sure students are wearing their masks and lots of hand sanitizing. But essentially the spirit of education has not been diminished.”
Paterson just got back into substitute teaching after working for six years at Autism Nova Scotia. He’d substituted in Calgary before that for less than six months after earning an education degree.
He’s seen a clear increase in the number of substitute vacancies on a day-to-day basis. “Yesterday I saw 35 substitute vacancies at 6:30 a.m.,” Paterson said Wednesday evening. “That’s the most I’ve seen in my short four weeks of substituting. When I first started there were only maybe four or five vacancies the morning of the job.”
‘A VERY REAL RISK’
He’s worried about exposing himself to the coronavirus.
“It’s a very real risk of being a substitute right now in schools,” Paterson said.
“It’s not something that
I get myself too worked up about because, other than following the public safety protocols the very best I can, it’s the nature of being a substitute right now. I’m very diligent in my own COVID safety practices. And I’ve even narrowed my own social circles down to pretty much nothing. I don’t go out with friends right now. I see only a handful of family members on maybe a weekly or bi-weekly basis. But right now I know that I am significantly more mobile than a lot of people.”
If he can’t find a substitute teaching job in Bedford, Paterson — who brings his guitar to all teaching assignments — looks for the closest position available.
“The more that we learn about COVID and asymptomatic spread it definitely crossed my mind about whether or not I could unknowingly be spreading COVID. I certainly hope that’s not the case. I’m monitoring myself for symptoms. I’m monitoring for any risk that is not necessary on a dayto-day basis. But you never know. And I think that is the most challenging thing about this invisible virus. We just don’t know where the spread is. But I’m doing everything I possibly can to make sure that I’m keeping myself and others safe right now.”