The local president of the Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario expects staff shortages when students return to in-person learning.
With the Omicron variant of COVID-19 still surging and the return of classes scheduled for mid January, Mario Spagnuolo says due to self-isolations, he expects less staff than usual.
He says the rate of teachers being absent could be high.
"Our rates of staff being absent would have been 20 to 30 per cent. If it's that high, we might not have the teachers to be in classrooms, unless we start combining classes. I mean in the United States I'm hearing of classes being combined and being taught outside of a gymnasium. Is that what we want to do during COVID?"
Spagnuolo says he worries a January 17 return may not be possible.
"We had absence rates because of illness and teachers are sick or quarantining, and they have to," he continued. "The government might decide to open up the schools this following Monday but will we have enough teachers in the classroom for no fault of their own?"
He says it's important for students to be back in classrooms but with the new variant safety is most important.
"There have been components that have said from the onset that kids can't get it, kids can't spread it, can't become ill from it and kids can't die from it. Well that's all inaccurate because we're seeing the stats that show kids are being hospitalized and we've actually had, unfortunately, kids die from COVID," Spagnuolo said.
Ontario announced that classes would be switching to virtual learning beginning January 5, and the province will re-evaluate the situation on January 17.