In a bid to deal with provincial cutbacks, a Mississauga high school gathered its Grade 11 students at an assembly Thursday to announce that they would need to reselect their courses for Grade 12.

The dramatic step came as Cawthra Park Secondary School scrambles to change timetables amid the loss of an expected five teachers — and 30 course sections — while trying to ensure students heading into their graduating year have the credits they need to graduate.

It’s also an example of what unions and critics have been warning would be the result of losing teachers as the Ford government moves to boost the average class size across the province by six students.

“As schools embark on the next phase of the staffing process, they are finding gaps in timetables for students that they are being challenged to fill, given increases to class size,” said Peter Joshua, director of education for the Peel District School Board.

“We are also seeing less choice for students in the course reselection process as schools focus on offering courses students are required to take to graduate with a diploma or certificate.”

The province has mandated larger class sizes by an average of one students from Grades 4 to 8. But in high school, average class sizes are jumping from 22 to 28 students over the next four years.

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In total, it’s estimated that 3,500 teaching positions will be lost through attrition, although other estimates have pegged that number at closer to 10,000.

The province has pledged $1.6 billion to help boards manage the change and promised no layoffs, but Peel and other boards have said job losses are likely, given their financial situations and previous grant cutbacks announced by the PCs. They have been clamouring to learn their grant amounts, which the province is set to announce on Friday, so they can better plan for this fall.

The Upper Grand District School Board in Guelph took the unusual step of issuing “administrative transfer notices” to all of its high school teachers “to provide flexibility if the board finds itself in the unfortunate circumstance that you must be transferred from one municipality to another” to fill gaps from retirements and resignations.

Critics had warned that even if there are no layoffs, there will be disruptions as teachers are moved around and classes lost.

In Peel, secondary students make their course choices in the fall for the following year. Cawthra is the only school there to alert students about re-timetabling, but the school board said staffing levels and course offerings could change yet again, depending on grant levels. Peel has already sent layoff notices to 193 secondary school teachers.

Cawthra currently expects to drop from 75 teachers to 70, and has cancelled the following courses:

Grade 10: locally developed math (designed for struggling students)

Grade 11: travel and tourism, ASP (anthropology, sociology and psychology), regular music

Grade 12: world issues, earth and space science, co-op (two credits)

Fewer sections of these courses will be available:

Grade 9: music (regional program), applied science, academic science, applied geography, intro to technology

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Grade 10: dance/ballet, academic history, applied history, food and nutrition, tech design

Grade 11: photography, accounting, repertoire music, chemistry, food and culture