CISD in critical need of substitutes, bus drivers
COVID is decimating Conroe’s teaching staff more than ever each week, and higher pay isn’t filling all the temporary spots
CONROE — Teachers and staff are what will keep local schools open during this pandemic, and the Conroe Independent School District is in need of both.
During a recent YouTube Live, Superintendent Curtis Null asked parents to consider applying to become substitute teachers because the district has a critical need for them. The recent spike in COVID-19 cases has seen a higher number of teachers and staff staying home than at any other point of the pandemic so far.
As Null said in his livestreamed event, the district was expecting around 900 staff members to be out on Friday; of the 900, around 700 would require substitutes. On Friday, the district ended up having 552 substitutes working but still had 304 positions left unfilled that needed substitutes.
Jamie Bone, assistant director of human resources for CISD, said it’s standard for about 20 percent of the substitute workforce to work in the district each day. But now the district has more staff out each day, and needs more substitutes who can work.
“We have a lot of subs in our system, we just don’t have a lot of subs that pick up jobs each day,” Bones said. “With the numbers of COVID (cases) rising, and the numbers of staff out each day, it’s really becoming critical that we have subs to fill the positions.”
The district has about 1,500 substitutes that are able to accept work. But being a substitute is a part-time job and there are various reasons why someone might decline a substitute job. The district has been increasing substitute pay as an incentive to hire more. Certified substitutes now earn $115 a day, and non-certified subs are making $105 a day. On Mondays and Fridays the rate goes up by $10.
To help fill the gaps, all professional staff who have the training to fill in are substituting in a class, including administrators such as Null. Several paraprofessionals have been calling the entire list of substitutes to see if they can work, and when. If necessary, classes might be split up and the students sent to other classrooms if a substitute cannot be found.
“Across all facets of our employment, we’ve got people who are out, much larger than we normally would,” Bone said.
It’s not just substitutes that the district needs. It’s standard for districts across the county to be in need of bus drivers, but the need is even greater now.
During those times when students are being transported to and from school, a lack of drivers becomes a safety issue. Everyone who works in the district’s transportation department is required to have a license to drive a bus, including department secretaries. But when all of the transportation administration staffers are filling in as drivers, administrative work is put on hold. Lack of drivers can also affect whether schools can take field trips.
The district is also in need of crossing guards, child nutrition workers in the cafeterias, and school nurses, among others. All district employees must pass a fingerprint background check, which can take up to a week to process if new applicants don’t already have their fingerprints on file.
“We want to make sure that kids are continuing to get a quality education and that we’re taking all the safety measures that we need to, to keep schools open,” Bone said. “To be clear, that is our priority. Under no circumstances do we want to have to close a school because we don’t have the staff to run it, so we’re doing everything we can to keep them open.”