Students in school.
The continuingCOVID-19 pandemichas left struggling school districts around the country without enough teachers to fill their classrooms.
DespiteCOVID-19’s continued impact on the U.S., with more than 750,000 people becoming infected nearly every day, many schools are attempting to open classrooms and facilitate in-person learning.
“Attention Parents: Now hiring certified and eligible non-certified Guest Teachers!” an announcement from Hays Consolidated School District in Texas posted toFacebookon Jan. 6 reads. “Rewarding work in education that fits YOUR schedule!”
On the district’swebsite, they explain non-certified applications must pass one of several courses with at least an 85 percent score to become eligible.
“A substitute ‘guest’ teacher is responsible for providing instruction, managing the classroom environment, and promoting student learning in the absence of the regular classroom teacher,” the district said, adding that substitutes could make between $100 and $150 for shifts.
“It is a unique way to give back and help the school that your children attended,” he toldNBC News.
Nilles enjoyed teaching so much that he left his paralegal job and now hopes to become a teacher full-time.
In California, the Palo Alto School District recently launched the “1 Palo Alto” campaign to ask community members and parents to step in as substitutes.
RELATED VIDEO: Doctor Says Fully Vaccinated People Are Going to Test Positive with Omicron: ‘Our New Normal’
“People move here for our schools, they love our schools, and they need our schools to stay open,” superintendent Don Austin said in avideoannouncement. “Our biggest challenge is staffing right now, people doing the jobs that we do. We can’t keep up, there’s no labor pool, no amount of money can solve this issue. We need your help.”
“My request is that until the surge passes, we need our community, 1 Palo Alto, to volunteer like never before,” Austin continued. “We need help in areas many people don’t even know exist.”
Officials from the Simi Valley School District in California, located about 350 miles from Palo Alto, toldCalMattersthat they recently only had enough substitutes to cover about half of the teachers who had contracted COVID-19.
“It’s untenable,” Superintendent Jason Peplinski told the outlet. “It is so bad.”
In Chicago, where theChicago Public Schools district and the local teachers' unionhave been involved in a testy debate over how to best return to in-person learning, substitutes are beingoffered an extra $1,000 a monthif they work 15 or more days.
According to theCenters for Disease Control, COVID-19 transmission in school settings can be limited if districts commit to prevention protocols.
As information about thecoronavirus pandemicrapidly changes, PEOPLE is committed to providing the most recent data in our coverage. Some of the information in this story may have changed after publication. For the latest on COVID-19, readers are encouraged to use online resources from theCDC,WHOandlocal public health departments.PEOPLE has partnered with GoFundMeto raise money for the COVID-19 Relief Fund, a GoFundMe.org fundraiser to support everything from frontline responders to families in need, as well as organizations helping communities. For more information or to donate, clickhere.
source: people.com
