Potosi High School, along with multiple others schools, has a problem, and that is finding substitute teachers. Tami Jo Taylor, our high school secretary, deals directly with this daunting task almost daily. Tami Jo stated, “There have been multiple occurrences where I can’t find any substitute teachers that are available, and when that happens our amazing staff fills in on their prep.” When asked if Potosi High School could be taking any extra measurements to combat this issue, Tami Jo said, “We have raised our rate thinking that would help, but other than that I don’t think there’s anything else we can do.” At Potosi High School the current rate is $130.00 per day if you were to be a substitute teacher.
The most important question is what is causing the sub shortage. I asked Mrs. Brunton her opinion on this and she said, “I think some of it is pay, but also subs we’ve normally had are just getting older and don’t necessarily want to deal with subbing and kids anymore.” Mr. Uppena had similar views to Mrs. Brunton and added, “The pandemic did not help. COVID caused a lot of people to not want to sub anymore, and since COVID has kinda gone downhill and there’s obviously not as much of it anymore, people have decided ‘I don’t think I need to sub anymore’, so they’ve not come back.”
Teachers' jobs are stressful enough, but the sub shortage has added extra pressure. Due to this dilemma, Mrs. Brunton often prioritizes and limits the days she plans to take off. Brunton stated, “In all honesty, it’s a lot more work not to be here than it is to just be here because there’s a lot of planning that you need to do if you aren’t going to be here.” Brunton also added, “Once in a great while I find myself stressing out when covering for other teachers, because I’m the only one with 7th-hour prep, so I typically cover a lot and it gets a bit hectic when I have things I need to get done.”
Although not having substitute teachers drastically affects teachers, it also significantly impacts student learning. Brunton added, “It definitely affects kids in core classes when you have a sub that’s maybe not able to teach the stuff that kids need to know.” Brunton also said, “Personally when I have a sub I don’t have them teach something new; most of the time we are just either reviewing or doing a worksheet that goes along with what we are learning, so kids aren’t learning anything new when you have a sub here.”
Teachers are finding themself having to make adjustments and ultimately step up to help more often. Since subs aren’t really around much anymore, it is fellow teachers having to sacrifice their prep to cover and help out. This sub shortage isn’t just a local problem; it’s a national issue that needs to get addressed. Some suggestions being spoken about nationwide to offer a solution include offering more pay and incentives, offering in-depth substitute training and support, and providing extra information to put subs at ease. Hopefully, if these suggestions are put in place, it could help to reduce the problems with the sub shortage.