'This hit us out of left field': Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board to cut over 100 staff positions

Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board will cut over 100 staff positions for the new school year, including numerous secretarial staff, the school board told CP24 on Tuesday.

In a statement to CP24, board spokesperson Bruce E. Campbell said that secretarial positions are tied to school enrolment, which has been declining year-over-year. According to Campbell, the school board is anticipating another enrollment decline of approximately 1.3 per cent next school year, which has made staffing cuts unavoidable.

Campbell also cited the provincial government’s elimination of COVID-19 Learning Recovery Funding as a contributing factor to staffing cuts, which will span across several unions and associations. Cuts will be made based on seniority, according to Campbell.

CUPE2026 is the union which represents the clerical, secretarial and technical employees of DPCDSB. In a statement to CP24, union president Lisa Maye called the events which led to these cuts a “double whammy” due to the decline in enrollment and reduced funding from the province.

“There’s bumping, and there will be layoffs,” she said, adding that some staff members may stay employed by DPCDSB in lower-level jobs or at different schools.

“It’s dependent on their seniority,” she said.

“We just found out this information recently,” she continued. “There’s not much we can do. We’ve negotiated the language around ‘bumping,’ which allows members to have some sort of job protection. But this hit us kind of out of left field.”

Reduced funding from the province may result in cut jobs and programming at schools across Ontario, the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) warned in March.

“We need adequate, stable and predictable ministry funding to provide the necessary programs and services for our students’ academic success and well-being so that they may emerge from the pandemic ready for whatever comes their way,” officials wrote.

In a statement to CP24, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Education said the Peel-Dufferin Catholic District School Board received a bump in funding compared to last year, adding that average base per-pupil funding for PDCDSB students has increased by 10.2 per cent, "despute a major drop in enrolment of nearly 8,000 students."

"We will continue to increase investments where students need it the most, focused on reading and math skills," continues the statement.