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Staff absences in Prairie South will be tracked normally during pandemic

The division office should be able to fill the staff absence report normally from now until the end of the year
prairie south office spring 2019
Prairie South School Division (Larissa Kurz photograph)

Prairie South School Division’s board of education normally receives a monthly report about staff absences from the month before, but one trustee thinks the reports will be pointless during the pandemic.

During their most recent board meeting, trustees received reports for the period Feb. 24 to March 17 that looked at absences for teachers, CUPE staff, bus drivers, and out-of-scope employees. After introducing a motion to receive the report, trustee Lew Young pointed out these reports will be of little value during the next four months since the coronavirus has forced all school divisions to suspend school and keep teachers and staff at home.

Administration might have difficulty keeping track of absences and how education is presented, he added.  

Nothing will change with how the division office tracks absences, said education director Tony Baldwin. It was “a weird week” from March 23 to 27 since everyone was working from home and that was counted as working time. However, starting March 30, if staff are absent, they report that in the same manner as they normally do.

There will be people who are away from work for the usual reasons, such as medical appointments, doctor appointments, vacation leave, or sick leave, he continued. The only issue that the division foresees is the potential of a larger-than-normal accrual of vacation days built up for employees who are on a 12-month pay schedule.

“The third and fourth components of our pandemic plan have some pieces connected to mitigating that exposure to the board, which could be a fairly significant financial exposure if vacation time accrues and accrues and accrues and nobody takes it,” Baldwin continued.

The division office should be able to fill the staff absence report normally from now until the end of the year, he added. It will simply have to record if vacation time builds up and report it to the board.

The data likely won’t be accurate as it can be, but the only thing trustees can do is wait to see the final result, Young remarked.

Report data

Teacher absences and substitute usage were recorded from Feb. 26 to March 17. Based on 427.77 full-time equivalent (FTE) teacher positions, the data showed:

  • A total of 741.30 FTE absences occurred
  • 73.64 per cent of teachers required a substitute teacher
  • Substitute teachers provided 545.90 FTE in coverage
  • A total of 15 actual days of teaching was affected, out of a possible 6,416.55 FTE days

Bus driver absences were recorded from Feb. 24 to March 19. Based on 107 FTE staff positions, the data showed:

  • 153.50 FTE days were missed
  • A substitute driver was required for 98.37 per cent of the time
  • A total of 18 actual days of driving was affected, out of a possible 1,926 FTE days
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