Substitute Teacher Shortages Affect the Whole Campus
Teacher absences and substitute scarcities are widespread in the San Jose Unified School District.
By Dan Von Brzeski
Teacher absences and substitute scarcities are widespread in the San Jose Unified School District.
By Dan Von Brzeski
Many classes on campus have had to have a substitute teacher at least once or twice in the last month, and it has affected teachers and students alike.
Although schools were already short of substitute teachers pre-COVID-19, the shortage has only gotten worse in the past two years. During the week of Jan. 10, there were 14 teacher vacancies at Pioneer alone. The numbers throughout the district are even larger.
For the first week of second semester two years ago, Tuesday, January 7 through January 10, 2020, there were a total of 15 positions left open without a substitute district-wide.
Last month, between Jan. 4 and Jan. 7, there were 271.
On Jan. 7 alone, the district began the morning with 103 unfilled spots, before substitutes were found for just 16 of the spots, leaving 87 openings on a single day.
Principal’s secretary Sara Goss said, “The district has been challenged this year hiring enough substitutes to cover the increased site absences due to pandemic related absences districtwide. If teachers stopped covering open classes our site administrators would be required to spend more of their day in classrooms instead of a regular schedule of administrative duties.”
Chanel Sulc, sophomore and junior English teacher, said the extra substitute teaching that was implemented due to the substitute teacher shortage has become overwhelming for her.
“I had to sub during my prep two days in a row because there were so many teachers out and we didn’t have anyone to cover it,” said Sulc. “I feel like I’m falling behind on things that I’m usually more on top of like responding to emails. I had a really important email on Monday that I couldn’t respond to until Thursday because I just hadn’t had time to do it.”
Although some teachers really dislike substitute teaching, others, such as P.E. teacher Jessica Davis, have found that substitute teaching is not so bad and that it comes with both positives and negatives.
“For the most part (substitute teaching) is okay because the classes are really well behaved, kind, and really good listeners, but it’s also cutting into my prep time, so there’s a trade off,” said Davis. “I don’t mind helping other teachers because I know they will help in return.”
Despite the increasing difficulty of challenges presented by teacher absences, Principal Herbert Espiritu believes that the school community and students have risen to the challenge presented by Omicron.
“Everybody has stepped up, the teachers, the academic counselors, the admin, and the district human resources did a great job of finding subs and making sure that we had all classes filled,” said Espiritu. “Things that we’ve done to mitigate open vacancies have already been implemented so this has been a worst case scenario, and I think we were able to rise to the challenge. Students, the school community, and the parents have all been understanding. Staff who have been available have all helped out. That’s the thing about challenges, they are an opportunity for all of us as a school community to step up and rise to it. I think we’ve already implemented the solutions and knock on wood, but I’m sure if there’s other challenges we’ll rise to them again as a group.”
Although schools were already short of substitute teachers pre-COVID-19, the shortage has only gotten worse in the past two years. During the week of Jan. 10, there were 14 teacher vacancies at Pioneer alone. The numbers throughout the district are even larger.
For the first week of second semester two years ago, Tuesday, January 7 through January 10, 2020, there were a total of 15 positions left open without a substitute district-wide.
Last month, between Jan. 4 and Jan. 7, there were 271.
On Jan. 7 alone, the district began the morning with 103 unfilled spots, before substitutes were found for just 16 of the spots, leaving 87 openings on a single day.
Principal’s secretary Sara Goss said, “The district has been challenged this year hiring enough substitutes to cover the increased site absences due to pandemic related absences districtwide. If teachers stopped covering open classes our site administrators would be required to spend more of their day in classrooms instead of a regular schedule of administrative duties.”
Chanel Sulc, sophomore and junior English teacher, said the extra substitute teaching that was implemented due to the substitute teacher shortage has become overwhelming for her.
“I had to sub during my prep two days in a row because there were so many teachers out and we didn’t have anyone to cover it,” said Sulc. “I feel like I’m falling behind on things that I’m usually more on top of like responding to emails. I had a really important email on Monday that I couldn’t respond to until Thursday because I just hadn’t had time to do it.”
Although some teachers really dislike substitute teaching, others, such as P.E. teacher Jessica Davis, have found that substitute teaching is not so bad and that it comes with both positives and negatives.
“For the most part (substitute teaching) is okay because the classes are really well behaved, kind, and really good listeners, but it’s also cutting into my prep time, so there’s a trade off,” said Davis. “I don’t mind helping other teachers because I know they will help in return.”
Despite the increasing difficulty of challenges presented by teacher absences, Principal Herbert Espiritu believes that the school community and students have risen to the challenge presented by Omicron.
“Everybody has stepped up, the teachers, the academic counselors, the admin, and the district human resources did a great job of finding subs and making sure that we had all classes filled,” said Espiritu. “Things that we’ve done to mitigate open vacancies have already been implemented so this has been a worst case scenario, and I think we were able to rise to the challenge. Students, the school community, and the parents have all been understanding. Staff who have been available have all helped out. That’s the thing about challenges, they are an opportunity for all of us as a school community to step up and rise to it. I think we’ve already implemented the solutions and knock on wood, but I’m sure if there’s other challenges we’ll rise to them again as a group.”