Catholic board adds another Grade 1 teacher; among 15 news hires this year

By Samantha Johnson Local Journalism Initiative Reporter on October 22, 2022.

reporter@medicinehatnews.com

Medicine Hat Catholic Board of Education trustees have made a motion to hire another Grade 1 teacher for St. Patrick’s School due to high student numbers in each of the three classes.

Deputy superintendent Chuck Hellman said, “We had the ad out the next day. It was in for less than a week and we interviewed four candidates. The teacher we chose was one of my old students from when I taught.”

Hellman also met with the principal at St. Patrick’s as there was some reorganizing needing to be done to create another classroom.

The new teacher started Oct. 3.

At the new teacher orientation before term started, 14 new hires were present.

“Our schools are reasonably small,” said Hellman. “We give new teachers lots of support. We love them, they bring an enthusiasm to the building. They are so good about building relationships with kids, bringing their own interests and passions into the extracurricular activities. Lots of them are our coaches and drama teachers – the things our schools needs so we can offer programs kids are looking for.”

The division also provides a mentor teacher or will arrange for new teachers to work with another for a day in a professional development capacity.

“Our goal is we get a new teacher we want them to be great teachers and be part of Medicine Hat Catholic for a long time.”

Of the 15 new teachers hired – an unusually large one-time number for the Catholic division – some were brought in due to increased enrolment, while others replaced teachers who retired last year, and there were a few open temporary positions.

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