The Upper Grand District School Board says it has issued layoff notices to 56 secondary school teachers just weeks after issuing layoff notices to 54 elementary school teachers.
Spokesperson Heather Loney said Wednesday’s notices are being issued because the board must follow timelines outlined in their collective agreements.
READ MORE: Guelph’s Upper Grand District School Board issues layoff notices to 54 teachers
“We wanted to issue these notices as soon as possible so that affected teachers could be made aware,” she said in a statement.
The board points to declining enrolment, loss of funding and changes to class sizes as reasons for the layoff notices.
Like elementary school teachers, the board hopes to rehire as many teachers as possible, but they won’t know the full impact until the Ontario government reveals funding details later this month.
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“Where possible, we are hoping to minimize the impact of these funding changes on our students and staff,” Loney said. “But we know, moving forward, that we are working with less provincial funding and fewer funded positions in our system.”
The last time the board issued layoff notices to secondary school teachers was in 2003.
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