33 teaching positions to be eliminated by the Thames Valley District School Board

"It's precarious work.” Occasional teachers likely to be affected most by staffing cuts.

Officials with the Thames Valley District School Board (TVDSB) say dozens of high school teaching positions will be eliminated due to lower-than-expected enrollment.

School board leadership recognized they were going to be about 350 high school students below initial estimates as they entered the second semester.

Acting Board Chair Bill Tucker said they had to come up with a plan, "We brought in a team of principals to help us do that so we can avoid unintended consequences. But it is going to result in the loss of approximately 33 teachers, which is just shy of $2 million."

Tucker told CTV News that projecting enrollment is not an exact science and points to the static housing market as one reason why enrollment dipped, "Families are not buying homes the way they did previously. They're not moving to different, larger homes the way they did previously. So, all that impact has a domino effect in terms of our enrollment and our projections."

Tucker said full-time, permanent teachers shouldn't be impacted, but occasional teachers will likely lose opportunities,

"It's precarious work,” noted John Bernans. Bernans is president of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation District 11, which represent TVDSB high school teachers.