The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
COVID staff shortages overwhelm teachers, schools across CT
Teacher interns in Fairfield are on stand by to help schools operate smoothly, while an elementary principal in Guilford recently filled in as an art teacher. Teachers in Stamford have given up scheduled breaks in the school day to fill in for absent staff.
Staff shortages that have closed classrooms, schools and entire school districts are also pushing educators still attending in person to their limits.
School staff who have managed to avoid quarantine were enlisted over the last few weeks to cover the classrooms of their colleagues with COVID-19 or those exposed to a positive case.
These additional responsibilities come as state data through Wednesday showed 2,467 employees and 12,740 students across Connecticut reported new COVID-19 infections over the last week. The preliminary count suggested cases among teachers and staff were down from the week before — but a seven-fold increase since the start of December.
“It really has not been easy,” said Diane Phanos, the president of the Stamford teachers union. “Those who remain working are baring the brunt and rising to the occasion, but it’s obviously adding a lot of stress to their work day.”
State leaders have repeatedly stressed that students learn best and fare better mentally in person, and because of that, pushed to keep school buildings open as COVID-19 infections surged to record-breaking heights. But despite those efforts, the reality of a health crisis has meant classrooms have needed to close as new cases and staff shortages rendered them non-operational since the winter break.
Norwich and Waterbury public schools were among those that shuttered this week, after Stratford, Westport, Ansonia and Danbury paused instruction last week due to teacher absences. Elsewhere, individual schools have temporarily shut or teachers picked up the responsibilities of their absent colleagues.
Phanos said many Stamford teachers have used
their free periods or eat lunch with students to cover for other teachers and staff who are out. “That means they would be working the whole day, without a break,” she said.
The school district’s staff shortage pre-dated the surge but worsened over the last few weeks for reasons related to the pandemic. In some cases, a group of teachers has had to split up the classroom of absent teachers, and add some of those students to their regular class sizes. Teachers are paid extra for the additional work — “but it’s minimal,” Phanos said.
In Fairfield, middle school teachers have had to cover classes for each other, but at the high schools, some substitutes have come in regularly and each school has three interns that can fill in, according to the local teachers union. More than 40 staff members reported active cases of COVID-19 as of Friday, according to district data.
“So between the substitutes, the interns and colleagues covering classes for each other, we’ve been able to keep everything as normal as possible for the students,” said Bob Smoler, president of the Fairfield Education Association.
The union added that reduced quarantine time from 10 to 5 days for nonsymptomatic teachers has helped keep schools staffed, whereas last year teachers recalled many more times classes were combined due to staff absences.
“None of this is ideal,” Smoler said. “It is certainly wearing out the teachers, but we are very committed to keeping schools open and maintaining a sense of normalcy for the students.”
Mike Cummings, the superintendent in Fairfield, observed teachers have gone “above and beyond” to make a tenuous situation work.
“Our teachers are working hard to cover colleagues’ classes,” Cummings said. “The administrators spend a great deal of time arranging this coverage.”
He said even administrators and paraeducators are covering classes. “It is great team effort on behalf of the students,” he said.
In Guilford, schools that have faced staff shortages and difficulties finding substitute teachers all year have met with new challenges since the omicron surge. Superintendent Paul Freeman said these last two weeks have been “particularly tough,” as more staff have called out sick, but it hasn’t reached a point to close a school or the district.
“Teachers are stepping up and where possible, they’re helping by covering other people’s classrooms,” he said. “What we would do in normal times is you might combine classrooms. We’re not doing that again, because of the realities of the pandemic, but we’re stretching the people we have and being creative.”
Administrators and district officials have stepped up, too. An elementary school principal taught art in her building one day, Freeman said, and the assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction covered at a building for a couple of days when an administrator was absent.
“We’re moving people all over the place,” he said.
In Danbury, school delays and closures due to staff shortages and weather conditions have meant the district has had just over a week of school since the winter break.
Last week, there were 296 staff members who were absent Jan. 3, and 322 employees were out Jan. 4, according to district data. Staff absences were on the decline the second week after break, but educators were still being pulled into different roles as some persisted.
“Pretty much there has been at least one person on every grade level in my building that has had COVID in the past two weeks,” said Erin Daly, a third-grade teacher at Pembroke Elementary School. State data showed there were 20 new cases at the school over the last week through Wednesday.
“So what that means for a classroom teacher is: we’ve got to pick up the slack for those who are out sick and make sure their lesson plans are done, make sure their materials are ready, make sure their class is set up in the morning for whoever is going to be filling in,” said Daly, also the president of the local teachers union.
Some classes have needed to be combined and meet in the gymnasium or media center, preventing those spaces from being used as intended. Meanwhile, teachers across the state have called for bans on combined classes due to shortages, which overwhelm instruction and increase the likelihood of a positive COVID case in the room.
The situation in the Naugatuck Valley has also started to turn around since schools needed to close post-winter break. After an estimated quarter of staff were absent on the first day back, canceling classes for the week, Ansonia schools took a second stab at reopening on Monday with greater success.
“Knock on wood, we look really good,” said Joseph DiBacco, the superintendent of schools. “We have the staff to teach and the few absences are covered with staff.”
“My teachers and staff did a very good job hunkering down during our school closure, and our COVID rate dropped severely,” he said.
Mid-week in Derby, the school district had 20 staff members absent due to COVID-19, five of which were classroom teachers, according to district data. The rest were mainly paraeducators, building substitutes, and secretary and intern positions.
“Other members of our amazing staff are covering classes,” said Matthew Conway, the superintendent.
In Bridgeport, teacher vacancies already plagued its schools, but the highly transmissible omicron variant hasn’t helped their staffing woes.
“Bridgeport has always had the shortages,” said Ana Batista, the president of the local teachers union. “But this is making it even harder.”
Due to scheduled holidays and weather-related closures following winter break, this week was Bridgeport’s first full week back in classrooms — which bought them time for high-quality masks and COVID-19 test kits to arrive, and the state to implement additional measures.
Lamont also signed an executive order on Tuesday that gives districts greater flexibility to enlist retired teachers during the recent COVID-19 spike. Batista called the move “a help” but worried about underlying issues in Bridgeport, especially as many educators have left over the course of the pandemic.
“I would not for one minute change what I have done in teaching for Bridgeport,” Batista said. “But we really need to do our best to get people to go into this field that will enjoy it and be successful.”