Edmonton-area classes pushed online as COVID-19 staffing pressures continue

As Omicron spreads in the Edmonton area, more schools are moving classes online due to mounting staff absences.

St. Albert Public Schools confirmed to CTV News that 11 classes are online, with nearly 300 students and staff participating in remote learning.

Joseph M. Demko, Sir George Simpson, Ronald Harvey, and Muriel Martin schools all had two classes online as of Monday. Bellerose, Keenooshayo, and Lorne Akins each had one class learning remotely.

St. Albert Catholic Schools says the district has 193 reported cases of COVID-19, including 180 students and 13 teachers. The cases have prompted 15 classes to transition to online learning.

The Edmonton Public School Board says it hired an additional 29 temporary contract teachers to help ease staffing pressures earlier this month. As of Monday, all of them had been called to fill in for sick teachers.

On Monday, the district reported 581 teacher absences, 112 of them unfilled. More than 300 educational assistants were unable to work, with 185 positions unfilled.

Four classes were moved to temporary online instruction as a result of staffing pressures, including two classes at Scott Robertson.

The latest data from Edmonton Public Schools showed that almost 2.5 per cent of students enrolled were absent due to COVID-19, and nearly 3.5 per cent were absent for another illness.

As of Monday morning, Edmonton Catholic Schools said it had 633 total staff absences, including 343 teachers. Eighty-two of those teaching positions remain unfilled.

Two classes in the district were pushed to online instruction due to staffing pressures.

According to the district's COVID-19 self-reporting tracking, several schools are dealing with COVID-19 exposures.

As of publication, Archbishop MacDonald reported 23 cases, Louis St. Laurent and St. Francis Xavier had 21 infections, St. Thomas Aquinas had 19, Austin O'Brien had 16 cases, Christ the King had 16, and Archbishop O'Leary reported 15 cases.