He said some students had “lost some learning time and this is only due to staff absences”, but said school hours were back to work as planned on Wednesday.
11th grader Nordin Hammouche said the shortage of teachers had left him lagging behind in his schoolwork.
“With so much content to cover, it means I will miss this content which could weaken my chances of getting a decent ATAR next year,” he said.
Warner said the school planned more shortages during the fourth quarter. He said if the department allowed it, he would consider asking high school students to stay home, whenever possible.
“It is possible that in the near future some requests will be made for high school students to stay home where they can, but I hope this does not come out,” he wrote in his note to the students.
He also said they would request special consideration for their VCE students, due to the interruptions.
The vice-president of the Victorian branch of the Australian Education Union, Justin Mullaly, said school staff needed more flexibility and support from the department.
“This may include short periods of distance learning when a school experiences a significant shortage to ensure the continued delivery of educational programs to students and to support the long-term health and well-being of staff,” he said.
He said the union was calling for the department to increase the supply of occasional relief teachers and reduce labor requirements that did not focus on essential teaching and learning programs.
Colin Axup, president of the Victorian Association of State High School Principals, said Victoria’s current shortage of teachers had occurred for years because too few people were looking for a career in teaching.
“[The teacher shortage] it has been built slowly and there has been concern before Covid about whether we will have enough teachers, ”Axup said.
In late 2019, before the pandemic began, the Andrews government launched an incentive program that offered teachers payments of up to $ 50,000 to work in schools with difficult staff.
A spokesman for the Department of Education and Training said earlier this week that remote learning was not offered as an option at Manor Lakes P-12.
“As with many schools and jobs in all sectors, Manor Lakes P-12 had a number of staff absent at the beginning of the week, but all scheduled classes were taught.”
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