FLORENCE, Ky. — Across the country, businesses are trying to work through the challenges of not having enough people who want to come to work. It’s no different in the classroom, as schools struggle not only with filling teacher positions, but the people who fill in for them.
Cindy Adams has been a substitute teacher for 15 years. Before that, she was a full-time kindergarten teacher, but left when she had kids.
Now on most days, she’s filling in for other teachers at Ockerman Elementary School. She’s been there so long, her students don’t really look at her as a substitute.
“I have 800 kids instead of just 30. So I feel like every kid at this school is mine,” Adams said. “It’s the most rewarding thing, besides being a mother myself, that I’ve ever done. These kids love you. They are excited to see you. I do it for the kids. I do it because I know when their teacher’s out, they need someone there to fill in to be able to give them that academic day.”
While Adams loves her job, the problem districts like Boone County Schools are facing is finding people as enthusiastic as she is.
The district has 27 schools, and about 1,400 full time teachers. Human Resources Director Matt Rigg said the district tries to maintain a ratio of one substitute for every three teachers, and so far has been able to do so.
Rigg said so far this year, the district has been averaging 135 teacher absences a day. On Fridays, that’s closer to about 160.
“On a Friday, which is our hard to fill day, we may have anywhere between 10 to 25 unfilled teacher positions, with substitutes unable to cover,” Rigg said. “When that happens, the schools shuffle staff around, where either the administrators themselves will cover classrooms, teachers may cover during their planning period.”
Rigg said the district has had an uptick in absences.
“Some of that we attribute to COVID. Some of that we attribute to mental health issues. So we have more people utilizing more sick days, which is putting a strain on our sub pool, because they’re taking off and not working for some of the same reasons,” he said. “It’s not been easy to cover every single absence.”
Rigg said the district is fortunate to have Northern Kentucky University, Thomas Moore University and other colleges to draw students looking to become teachers from. He said the district also has a strong retiree pool of teachers who’ve left, and realized they miss the kids.
The district has also been making a push to hire new substitutes, like Denise Young, who just completed orientation.
“I got my teaching certificate back in the 90s. And then just through life, never wound up teaching,” Young said.
After 20 years with an investment company, she took a buyout opportunity.
“I thought, you know, it’s time for something different. It’s time for me,” Young said.
“I know that the school system needs me. I know that I was interested in the school system. And it was just a perfect time and opportunity to take part in this.”
While in the past Boone County Schools has offered incentives to substitutes to teach at certain schools, funds are limited for a public school district, especially after the pandemic.
So, Rigg said, it really comes down to finding people like Adams who are passionate about teaching kids.
“I would do it even if I wasn’t getting paid for it. If I won the lottery, I would keep doing this, because I know I’m making a difference. I love the kids. The kids love me,” Adams said.
Working for free, of course, is not an option for most people. Rigg said Boone County Schools’ wages are competitive, if not higher than average in the area.