Schools scramble as substitute pool shrinks
EL RENO — For El Reno Public Schools Superintendent Craig McVay, it was the worst possible scenario. Two days before the start of in-person instruction, a COVID- 19 outbreak inside the district's third- and fourth- grade building sidelined 20 of 26 faculty and staff members until at least Sept. 2.
About 400 students missed the first day of school Thursday, forced to begin learning from home because “there was no way that we could find that many substitutes,” McVay told The Oklahoman.
El Reno, a 3,000-student district about 25 miles west of Oklahoma City, is among the school districts facing a shortage of substitute teachers, many of whom have opted out because of the virus.
“I'm expecting that it will be incredibly difficult to hire a substitute to teach in an environment where there are COVID-positive teachers or COVID- positive kids,” he said. “I mean, who's going to sign up for that?”
McVay's available pool of substitutes has shrunk from
30 before the pandemic to 12 as of Thursday. In normal times, he relies heavily on older, retired teachers who want to come back and teach occasionally.
“Because they are in that at-risk bracket, we get none of those,” he said. “And that's really dangerous.”
Edmond schools reopened Thursday with a split A/B class schedule and a mask requirement for all students in first through 12th grade. Randy Decker, associate superintendent of human resources, said he had 14 unfilled teacher absences, even though only half of the district's 24,500 students were in attendance.
Decker said the district has about 125 available substitutes, down from as many as 400 before the pandemic.
“Some may have health conditions and have concerns there,” he said. “It really depends on their comfort level. Some subs may have children or elderly parents at home and don't want to expose their family members. That's impacted some of their decisions.”
Several districts across the state already have closed, delayed their start date or enforced quarantines because of COVID- 19 exposure. Oklahoma City Public Schools will start school Aug. 31 with an all-virtual schedule for the first nine weeks.
The Oklahoma City district's pool of substitutes shrunk from about 350 before the pandemic to about 275 currently. Assistant Superintendent Brad Herzer, who oversees human resources and safety and security, said the virus has presented a challenge when it comes to hiring substitutes, even though the district has increased pay by as much as $40 per day.
“We're really in kind of uncharted territory because we don't know what substitute teaching looks like in a virtual setting,” he said.
“Technology is a challenge for some.”
The district is providing online training for about three dozen substitute teachers, Herzer said.
“If a teacher is out, we do need someone to be available,” he said. “Just to let them know somebody is checking in on them and can provide them with potential lessons the teacher has left online.”
McVay, meanwhile, is relying on administrators, teaching assistants and parent volunteers to staff classrooms. He called the situation “disheartening and very emotional.”
“We don't really fear the virus, we fear the quarantine,” he said. “We've masked up, we've social distanced and still we have a situation where our staff and faculty are forced to quarantine, and that's an absolute killer for us.”