TORONTO — Canada’s largest school board says it is drawing on its pool of supply teachers as it rushes to meet a surge in demand for online learning.
The Toronto District School Board says it hired 300 teachers Monday and was working today to bring on another 200 to fulfil its staffing needs for online elementary school classes.
Spokesman Ryan Bird says the board anticipates the hiring will be complete in the next few days so the virtual classes can be set up by the end of the week.
The board announced Monday it was again delaying the start of some virtual elementary classes as more students signed up for online learning.
It said while the online courses were set to begin today, some classes had not yet been assigned a teacher.
Students with no teacher assigned are expected to start off with independent learning.
The board said 60,000 students have signed up for online learning at the elementary level, and another 18,000 at the high school level.