Hiring Additional Staff in LRSD

At the beginning of the 2022-2023 school year, the Senior Leadership Team asked staff: How was startup? What went well? What could we improve? 

As of October 5, there were 503 participants who have shared 411 thoughts. Many indicated that the beginning of the school year has been going well and that they have been focused on reconnecting and nurturing belonging. Another reoccurring theme throughout the answers was that more staff, specifically educational assistants, are needed to support students. 

At the October 4 Public Board Meeting, Superintendent Michalik shared an update about hiring more staff in the Louis Riel School Division (LRSD) to support students on their learning journey. Funding for these new hires came from one-time learning recovery grants provided by Manitoba Education and Early Childhood Learning (see the table below). These hires are in addition to the supplemental staff allocated in the 2022-2023 budget.  

In the spring and early summer (post-budget), LRSD hired: 

• 4.18 full-time equivalent (FTE) educational assistants
• 1.00 FTE Manager of Community Programming
• 0.50 FTE Physiotherapist
• 3.11 FTE Clinicians*
  *Retained FTE staffing after a general announcement of an overall reduction of non-school-based staff (including 2.5 Therapists & 0.61 Clinicians) in LRSD's 2022-2023 budget that required resources be redirected to classrooms. 

In September, the division hired 4 FTE additional teachers and 20.47 FTE additional educational assistants. 

In October, an additional 5 FTE educational assistants were hired. As of Oct. 27, an additional 0.59 FTE educational assistant and 2 FTE teachers and are in the process of being hired. 

This brings the division’s total staff numbers to 1,137 FTE teachers, 611.66 FTE educational assistants and 382.49 FTE non-teaching support staff. The remaining funding from the one-time grants is $138,771.

The availability of substitutes has been an important topic during staffing conversations. Although the number of teacher and educational assistant subs is moving toward pre-pandemic levels, the division is actively working to recruit additional substitutes to its repertoire.

The availability of substitutes has been an important topic during staffing conversations. Although the number of teacher and educational assistant subs is moving toward pre-pandemic levels, the division is actively working to recruit additional substitutes to its repertoire.

More information on substitute applications is available here.