School divisions are having a tough time finding enough substitute teachers. 

This topic came up during the public budget consultation meeting for the Hanover School Division, which has 558 teachers and a list of 167 substitute teachers they can call on. 

Finance chair Ron Falk says that is not enough. 

“Some of the subs have their own lives and they have other commitments, and they can't come with certain days. Some subs want to teach only in certain schools. That's why there are lots of situations that arise where we don't have access to all 167 whenever we need them.” 

He adds there are some substitute teachers who work in multiple school divisions, impacting their availability for Hanover. 

“We would love to have more subs,” Falk says. “And if there are people out there who are retired teachers, teachers on terms that we're not aware of, who would like to sub more, certainly let us know. We should actually know of those individuals are already. But if there are people who would be interested in taking up the gauntlet again and stepping into a classroom, even having been retired, we would certainly look forward to adding them to our list.” 

The Seine River School Division is also looking for more substitute teachers, says board chair Wendy Bloomfield. 

“Finding substitute teachers has been a challenge for quite some time now, starting during the pandemic and since the pandemic,” she says. “Often, retired teachers like to substitute now and again. But that pool kind of dried up during the pandemic and I don't believe many of them have come back.”