District trying new tactics to attract subs

LANSDALE >> How can the North Penn School District better attract and retain substitute teachers, in the face of a shortage of subs across the state?

District staff are developing several incentives to do so, as part of a plan incorporated in the recently adopted 2021-22 budget.

“It’s supply and demand: there aren’t that many teachers available, and yet there’s a greater need. So how do we combat that?” said district Director of Human Resources Mia Kim.

Throughout several months of talks on the district’s 2021-22 budget district administrators have voiced concerns about a shortage of substitutes, due in part to a reduced number of teacher candidates seeking and receiving state certifications, and compounded

by recent retirements and the impact of COVID-19 on teachers returning to classrooms.

During the board’s June 8 meeting, Kim outlined survey data comparing North Penn’s daily rates paid for substitutes to those in other adjacent districts, and outlined a series of recommendations meant to attract and retain more subs.

“There are a handful of school districts whose per diems are higher than ours, but North Penn is not the lowest by any means,” she said.

Staff are suggesting a series of pay rates, by $50 per day taught, to several tiers of daily payments for substitutes who spend time in classrooms. Those who teach from one to 25 random assignments would see pay raised from $130 to $180 per day; those with 26 to 75 would see a raise from $140 to $190 per day; those with 76 or more would increase from $150 to $200 per day; and those who teach in one assignment long-term for 25 to 89 days would see an increase from $150 to $200 per day, under the proposed plan.

“We wanted to increase by $50 per day so that it’s enough of a differencemaker, so that we can attract substitute teachers,” Kim said.

Other incentives proposed by the district HR department include bonuses of $200 for those who complete two weeks of work, and an additional $250 for those who finish an additional 20 days. Since Fridays tend to be the day of the week with the most difficult finding substitutes, staff are also suggesting the normal substitute pay be increased by $10 on Fridays, with extra incentives for those who work Fridays, such as a raffle ticket for chances to win various prizes.

“Fridays are the days where the most people tend to take days off, and that applies for substitute teachers as well,” Kim said.

District HR staff are also planning to contact all substitute teachers who have taught for the district in the past three years, to gauge their interest and let them know of the new incentives. Staff also plan to contact all retiring fulltime teachers and offer then chances to fill in as a sub, at a higher rate of $210 per day.

Other ways to get the word out? District staff could run ads on the district’s TV channel, website, and post signs on district properties and local shops to try to recruit more subs, Kim said. And a proposed district health clinic could be a selling point too, once up and running.

“Once that opens, we could make it available, at no charge, to our substitute teachers, after they have worked 25 or more days in that schoolyear. That could include free visits,” free or reduced costs for medications, testing, and/or other incentives the clinic provides to employees, Kim said.

HR staff could also develop a “guest teacher program,” for those who have earned a bachelor’s degree in education but may not have finished their needed certifications from the state.

“We want to make sure we provide them with robust training, so they are set up success. Sometimes it can be pretty intimidating to face a class full of kindergarteners, even though they may be little,” she said.

Those who do sign on as subs could be recognized at “appreciation days” held monthly or annually, and could receive formal district ID badges they do not currently get, which provide added perks for teachers.

“That badge can provide discounts to local shops; I certainly know The Gap, J. Crew, and other shops do provide discounts, and certainly to museums and to zoos and other places,” Kim said.

Those badges could also provide free or discounted entry to district athletic events, free lunches from school cafeterias on those hard-to-fill Fridays, and administrators could work with the district’s teachers union to develop other ideas and incentives.

Board President Tina Stoll said she applauded Kim and her department for their ideas on finding more substitutes: “it was a problem before the pandemic, and it was a very big problem during it.” Board member Christian Fusco added that, as a teacher in another district, he’s seen the shortage of subs as “an ongoing problem for every district, not just in Montgomery County, not just Pennsylvania, but probably we have a nationwide teacher shortage.”

“Outside the box thinking is really needed, because you hit the nail on the head: we’re not finding teachers,” he said.

When he has worked as a substitute, Fusco added, he’s seen that “marginal differences in pay rates are not going to move the needle,” since substitutes may judge where to work based on proximity and travel time — but “$50 is definitely a number that will move the needle, and I think have an impact on getting them in.”

“I am very much in favor of a lot of these recommendations. I think this is exactly what this problem needs,” he said.

Board member Tim MacBain, also a teacher elsewhere, said he “can’t express enough to the community how essential a substitute staff can be, to the functionality of a building on any given day.”

“If a principal can spend a day doing their work to build the community, and help the building operate properly, as opposed to triaging classrooms and trying to find someone” to fill