Northern Manitoba school division offering financial incentives to attract teachers
A northern Manitoba school division is offering financial incentives, including $10,000 payments, to attract new teachers.
The Frontier School Division, which covers most schools in Northern Manitoba, has been short 20 educators all year, with nearly half of its teaching staff over the age of 50.
The division is experiencing difficulty attracting new teachers, especially those trained out of the province. This is because when out-of-province teachers come to Manitoba often their work experience and training isn’t fully recognized.
“We’ve had a number of teachers leave Manitoba simply because they weren’t getting paid as much as they had been before,” said Reg Klassen, chief superintendent, of the Frontier School Division.
The school division and the Frontier Teachers' Association have now signed two memorandums of agreement to make it more appealing for teachers to come work for them.
“We’re desperate,” Klassen said.
One of the new incentives is a promise to match a certified teacher’s salary to what it was before they came to Manitoba.
The other is an offer to give any new bachelor of education graduate $10,000 payments for a full year of work. Those who graduated in 2021 are eligible to get the payment for one year; those who graduated in 2022 can receive it for up to two years; and those who graduated in 2023 are eligible to receive it for three years.
Klassen said the division has money set aside to accommodate these incentives.
“We know that retirements are coming, and we need to be in a position where we can replace those people who have served us for a long time,” Klassen said.
Klassen said they rolled out a different incentive program last year, but it didn’t attract enough people.
The division will re-evaluate the incentive program in the winter to decide if it will continue.
Klassen noted that people are hesitant to come work in remote communities, but it can be a great experience and can provide a wealth of experience and knowledge.
“Once they get there, they find that they’ve got great students, a wonderful community and it’s a great experience,” he said.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Indian envoy warns of 'big red line,' days after charges laid in Nijjar case
India's envoy to Canada insists relations between the two countries are positive overall, despite what he describes as 'a lot of noise.'
Stormy Daniels describes meeting Trump during occasionally graphic testimony in hush money trial
With Donald Trump sitting just feet away, Stormy Daniels testified Tuesday at the former president's hush money trial about a sexual encounter the porn actor says they had in 2006 that resulted in her being paid to keep silent during the presidential race 10 years later.
U.S. paused bomb shipment to Israel to signal concerns over Rafah invasion, official says
The U.S. paused a shipment of bombs to Israel last week over concerns that Israel was approaching a decision on launching a full-scale assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah against the wishes of the U.S.
Former homicide detective explains how police will investigate shooting outside Drake's Bridle Path mansion
Footage from dozens of security cameras in the area of Drake’s Bridle Path mansion could be the key to identifying the suspect responsible for shooting and seriously injuring a security guard outside the rapper’s sprawling home early Tuesday morning, a former Toronto homicide detective says.
Northern Ont. woman makes 'eggstraordinary' find
A chicken farmer near Mattawa made an 'eggstraordinary' find Friday morning when she discovered one of her hens laid an egg close to three times the size of an average large chicken egg.
Susan Buckner, who played spirited cheerleader Patty Simcox in 'Grease,' dead at 72
Susan Buckner, best known for playing peppy Rydell High School cheerleader Patty Simcox in the 1978 classic movie musical 'Grease,' has died. She was 72.
Jeremy Skibicki has 'uphill battle' to prove he's not criminally responsible in Winnipeg killings: legal analysts
Accused killer Jeremy Skibicki could have a challenging time convincing a judge that he is not criminally responsible for the deaths of four Indigenous women, a legal analyst says.
Bye-bye bag fee: Calgary repeals single-use bylaw
A Calgary bylaw requiring businesses to charge a minimum bag fee and only provide single-use items when requested has officially been tossed.
Alcohol believed to be a factor in boating incident after 2 men die: N.S. RCMP
Two Nova Scotia men are dead after a boat they were travelling in sank in the Annapolis River in Granville Centre, N.S., on Monday.