NDP Education Critic Sarah Hoffman says “too many kids in too tight a classroom” are leading to more cases of COVID-19 in schools around the province.
Hoffman says one proposal the NDP has made is to see the hiring more new teachers who are set to graduate university this spring.
“Many of them would be very willing to step up and be either substitutes or if classes were split to be able to support learning in schools and to be hired right away to help take some of the pressure off to keep schools open and to open safely.
Hoffman joined us on the Hot Seat this week and says the biggest issue they’ve heard from schools that have had to do more classes virtually is a lack of staff available to operate normally.
“Once a teacher is exposed and needs to isolate for two weeks and could potentially be sick themselves, it really is difficult to find enough support staff or substitute teachers to come in and really take that pressure off.”
Hiring enough new teachers would cost around $30 million which Hoffman says is quote “a worthwhile investment.”
We also talked to Hoffman about her recent experience in getting vaccinated, you can listen to the full interview below.
– Kyle Moore, Trending 55 Newsroom
