School district continues to struggle with substitute teachers

By Harry Loomis

Public schools across the nation have struggled with finding substitute teachers, and the St. Joseph School District is no exception.

In Tuesday’s finance committee meeting for the SJSD, assistant superintendent Robert Sigrist noted that the costs for substitute teachers are up $330,000 this year. Despite this, the district is still struggling to fill these positions.

“We’re short on average of 20-25 subs every single day,” said Kenneth Reeder, vice president of the school board. “If one school building has one person gone, we’ve only got 24 buildings with staff, kids in it. We’d be short every day. We’ve already farmed that out to an outside source.”

Requirements for becoming a substitute teacher used to include college credit, which has since been removed. While one can theoretically become a sub easier than before, the pay isn’t enough for many to choose that path.

“We’re paying $115, everybody around us are around $140 to $160,” Reeder said. “Most other districts that keep that staffing up, we’ll pay three-fourths of what a beginning teacher starts. Then again, you used to have 60 hours of college credit and, you know, of course, a background check and all those things you go through.”

It is unclear how the school district will look to fill these vacancies in the future.

“You used to have certain standards to be in front of your kids every day, even if it was just on a substitute basis,” Reeder said. “But that’s all going out the window as well.”