The teacher shortage has continued well into the fall term for Yukon schools, with rural communities bearing the brunt of the hiring slump as candidates struggle to find places to live.

According to the head of the Yukon’s teachers’ union, as of late September, there were still 20 teacher positions left unfilled – with all the open spots in rural schools.

“It’s hard to provide a full high school program when you don’t have any high school teachers,” Ted Hupé, the president of the Yukon Association of Education Professionals, told the Star.

Because of this shortage, he says, some students are forced to take classes online.

Hupé couldn’t provide exact details on how much class time has been moved online as some schools have online learning already blended into the curriculum.

“I couldn’t tell you where or how many, because there are some schools that will do online courses for certain electives anyways,” Hupé said.

“But the thing is, without these teachers present, they’re getting less support period, whether they’re doing blended or not.”

Asked what the current number of vacancies are and if students are forced to attend classes online, a spokesperson from the Department of Education told the Star they were unable to provide that information this morning.

Hupé said Pelly Crossing and Old Crow are the worst off, with three to four teaching vacancies each.

In Pelly Crossing, the vice-principal is teaching full-time and in Old Crow, the principal is teaching full-time, he said.

On the bright side, Hupé said, problems with substitute teachers having to go through the hiring process each year have been resolved as of last Friday afternoon.

Up to and including this year, a substitute teacher would be forced to essentially re-apply for their jobs each year due to how the administrative system operated, often resulting in delayed paycheques.

Some substitutes weren’t getting paid until five or six weeks into the school year.

“Right now is the last time they’ll have to do that,” Hupé said. “Which is very good news.”

The teacher shortage and the pay issue for substitutes were brought up in the legislature last week by NDP Leader Kate White.

“The state of our education system is another example of a Liberal disregard for rural communities,” White told the legislature last Thursday.

“Many Yukon students started off the school year without teachers in their classrooms, or even access to a substitute teacher.”

In response, Education Minister Jeanie McLean blamed hiring problems on a national teacher shortage, and said the department has posted the openings on social media and attended various career fairs.

“These steps have supported the recruitment efforts,” McLean said.

“We continue to work to find staff with the best combination of qualifications, experience and suitability.”

But Hupé and White both say the biggest problem is actually housing.

In many of these rural schools, Hupé said, even if they hire for the open spots, the applicants eventually decline the job offers because they can’t find a place to live.

“Sometimes people say, ‘Yeah, I’m coming up, I’m coming up,’ and then in August, they can’t find a house,” Hupé said.

In many of these communities, teacher housing is provided by the government, but it’s not guaranteed. When a teacher leaves a job, the spot can be given away to another government employee.

The problem is particularly acute when it comes to late hires.

“We’ve got some late hires that will probably remain unfilled because there is no housing available for a new teacher to the community,” Hupé said.

White said that if the Yukon government wanted to, it could hold these housing spots open for teachers instead of giving them away to other government employees.

Nurses enjoy this benefit, with housing spots reserved just for them.

White also proposed some other fixes.

“There are solutions,” she said. “The Yukon government could work with First Nation development corporations to build housing that Yukon government employees, through the Yukon government, would rent.”

Hupé said there are also economics at play.

At one time, teachers in the Yukon were paid much more than those in places such as Alberta or B.C., but that gap is now closing.

“There’s so little difference now that it doesn’t take into account cost of living in the North, pricing in the North, price of gas, and people then start thinking now maybe I’ll stay down south,” he said.

For education assistants, it is even worse because they are lower-paid. There are still multiple unfilled education assistant positions in both Whitehorse and rural Yukon.

Starting pay for educational assistants is $44,413 annually.

“If you’re a single parent or a single person trying to live on this wage in Whitehorse, it’s hard,” he said.

The discussion in the legislature began after each party gave tributes to Yukon teachers on World Teachers’ Day.

White took issue with these tributes coming from the Education minister while the department is struggling to fill positions and substitutes are complaining about pay problems.

“To have the minister give a tribute to talk about how much the department respects teachers and how much your government respects teachers,” White said.

“But we know on the ground, that’s not exactly how educators feel.”