Orange County school districts are facing shortages in substitute teachers due to a spike in COVID-19 cases.
As schools returned to in-person classes after winter break, higher numbers of staff called in sick, resulting in shortages for certain positions.
“A lot of our school sites do have a lot of staff who are either in quarantine or just called in sick so we are trying to try to cover those positions,” Santa Ana Unified School District spokesperson Fermin Leal said.
In some districts, shortages have forced staff and administrators to take on different roles within schools. For example, Lowell Joint School District (LJSD) Superintendent Jim Coombs said he filled in as a custodian and playground aide.
While staff absences have seen some improvement, shortages continue. As reported by the OC Register, teacher absences in the Anaheim Union High School District shifted from 250 teachers to 180. Magnolia Union Elementary School District has 12% of their staff out.
New initiatives have been put in place by OC in an attempt to resolve further absences.
“Many districts also have raised substitute teacher pay in an effort to stay competitive. At Lowell Joint, for example, substitute pay was increased last month from $131 a day to $200 a day,” LJSD staff member Mary Jo Evanoff said.
The Orange County Department of Education (OCDE) sent at least 100 Educational Services division managers to county schools as substitute teachers until Jan. 28.
On employment websites such as Indeed, there are 75 substitute teacher positions listed as urgently hiring in Orange County alone as of Jan. 28. Sites such as Glassdoor and EDJOIN have over 95 substitute teacher positions that need to be filled immediately in OC.
In response, Governor Gavin Newsom released a plan to help solve shortages of substitute teachers and staff on Jan. 11. His proposal adds $2.9 billion to the state budget for gathering and hiring more qualified teachers and staff.
Newsom’s order lowers California’s barriers that “delay the hire of qualified short-term substitute teachers; permitting substitute teachers to have their assignments extended; and providing additional flexibility to support retired teachers who have returned to the classroom, as well as eliminating barriers that may prevent additional retired teachers from returning.”
While a strain on school district operation is still in play, schools have been restocked with N-95 and KN-95 masks to be distributed to teachers, staff and students. At-home self-testing kits have also been provided by the California Department of Public Health and the OCDE for students to use.
Measures like these will continue to be taken throughout the omicron surge, and schools that remain in-person will be following COVID-19 mask, quarantine and contact tracing guidelines.
Hanna Bulaj is a City News Intern for the winter 2022 quarter. She can be reached at hbulaj@uci.edu.