By Greg Fry

Education

Fewer teaching vacancies in SD57 but still work to do notes teachers union

Sep 3, 2025 | 4:19 PM

PRINCE GEORGE — Superintendent of Schools for School District 57 Jameel Aziz says they’ve been succesful in recruiting more teachers this year.

“We have more teachers in place this year than we’ve had in years past,” Aziz told CKPG News. “Every year we start with some teacher vacancies but we’ve really reduced those numbers in the last few years and so we have more staff ready to meet and make sure your students are supported in our buildings.”

President of the Prince George District Teachers’ Association Katherine Trepanier acknowledges the school district and school board have been working very hard on this file but estimates that there still are about 15 unfilled classroom positions district-wide.

“Particularly in our rural areas, in particular in Mackenzie. There’s still quite a few unfilled positions as well as quite a few in Prince George. So, we’re definitely short but I know they’re working to try and recruit people.”

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For context, she estimates there were around 800 full-time teaching positions in School District 57 last year noting “it’s a challenge. It’s a challenging job – the working conditions are getting more challenging all the time.”

Trepanier isn’t sure how many education assistants (EA’s) there are in the district but says the NDP promised during last year’s election campaign that there would be an EA in every primary classroom and hopes that promise gets fulfilled.

“They also said there would be counsellors in every school and I’m not sure that’s the case yet, but that’s definitely needed. Our students are facing more and more mental health struggles and we definitely need more support for all of our students.”

She says Victoria also needs to step up when it comes to inclusive education funding – which includes mental health supports.

“They only really support 72 per cent of what school districts actually spend on inclusive education and so what happens is school districts have to cut in other areas in order to try to provide the services kids need.”

As for providing the essentials, Aziz notes the school district has students covered.

“We have many great offerings for students and families and I just want to remind everybody that we have lots of supports within our schools.

“So, if anybody is having challenges during back to school time with school supplies, with making sure that their kids are having healthy foods, we have supports in place at all of our schools to assist with that so please reach out to your principal.”

And if your child is struggling with their mental health, he asks parents to make sure that they let their school know “because we put all sorts of structures in place to support that child to make sure their school journey is successfully.”

Aziz says students can look forward to using some new technology this school year too.

“We’ll be distributing a lot of new technology in our schools this year. So, primary students will see iPads for the first time and our Grades 4-12 will have new Chromebooks.”