The Flin Flon School Division (FFSD) has its eyes open for new French Immersion teachers at a time when Manitoba schools are experiencing a shortage of qualified educators.
Superintendent Constance McLeese was out of town during the FFSD board of trustees’ meeting on Feb. 12, working at an education conference in Ontario in an attempt to replenish the division’s well of French Immersion teachers.
The division has plans to recruit heavily this year to fill French education needs and has already had representatives at events in Manitoba earlier this year.
Trustee Murray Skeavington said Manitoba schools are currently far short of French Immersion needs, leaving hundreds of job openings throughout the province.
“In Manitoba, they are about 600 to 800 French Immersion teachers short,” said Skeavington.
Skeavington explained that one of Manitoba’s biggest producers of French Immersion teachers, l’Universite de Saint-Boniface in Winnipeg, often end up working with the Louis Riel School Division, a Winnipeg-based school division that serves between 14,000 and 15,000 students.
“Students from Saint-Boniface usually get swallowed up by Louis Riel once they walk out the door,” he said.
Trustee election
The board approved trustee Skeavington’s nomination to run for director of Region 4 of the Manitoba School Boards Association (MSBA). It’s a post Skeavington has filled in previous years.
The 17-year veteran is beginning his fifth term on the FFSD board.
“Murray has served in that capacity before, representing the north at the provincial school boards executive. He wants to run again this time, so we’re nominating him to run for that position. That will be decided at their (MSBA’s) annual general meeting,” said Leslie Fernandes, FFSD board chair.
Last month, Skeavington announced he would run for the MSBA provincial board as vice-president for boards with under 6,000 students.
Budget meeting
The division will unveil its budget for the next fiscal year at a special meeting on Feb. 20. The meeting will take place in the meeting room at the FFSD offices at 9 Terrace Avenue, starting at 6:30 p.m.
For the first time, the board held an online consultation survey this year, gaining some input from the public into what the budget may look like.
Funding from the provincial education ministry has reportedly dropped from last year’s sum, according to division officials.
