By COLE REIF
Great Bend Post
USD 428 Assistant Superintendent John Popp said the Great Bend school district has been working hard to get substitute teachers ever since the COVID-19 pandemic and it is just not going well. Without any survey data, Popp guessed that not having an adequate number of substitutes is one of the greatest ways district teachers get burned out.
"If we don't have adequate subs, then they're covering for each other," said Popp. "We're pulling teacher assistants (TA) and para professionals to cover classrooms. Then teachers don't have their TA and para support. We're not getting interventions done because we don't have enough TAs and paras. At the high school and middle school level, they're giving up their plan period to cover for other teachers."
Popp said on a low to average day, the district can cover mid-twenties for substitute teachers. When USD 428 needs closer to 40 subs, there are several teachers that are covering for each other.
Popp is searching for solutions and told the USD 428 school board Monday night that administration has looked into hiring fulltime substitutes. Another idea is to hire a company to outsource the hiring of substitutes.
"Unfortunately, this is something that all businesses are facing is help, hiring and workforce," said board member Deanna Essmiller. "I don't think it's just us in trying to find the people. If they were out there, we'd find them."
Popp will put together a committee to do more research on possible solutions to the district’s substitute shortage.