{"id":34872,"date":"2022-05-19T05:00:33","date_gmt":"2022-05-19T10:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/?p=34872"},"modified":"2022-05-18T14:01:34","modified_gmt":"2022-05-18T19:01:34","slug":"substitute-shortage-persisted-even-after-oklahoma-school-closures-slowed-down","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2022\/05\/19\/substitute-shortage-persisted-even-after-oklahoma-school-closures-slowed-down\/","title":{"rendered":"Substitute shortage persisted even after Oklahoma school closures slowed down"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Earlier this year a teacher shortage in Oklahoma forced hundreds of school districts to close their doors because of a lack of substitutes to fill in for educators out with the coronavirus.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But even though that substitute shortage no longer occupies the headlines, it persists. And heading into fall 2023, it\u2019s unclear what the broader teacher shortage and substitute shortage will look like.<\/span><\/p>\n<div style=\"width: 100%; height: 200px; margin-bottom: 20px; border-radius: 6px; overflow: hidden;\"><iframe style=\"width: 100%; height: 200px;\" src=\"https:\/\/player.captivate.fm\/episode\/161bcbf3-f850-46d2-adf4-74698426cf9e\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\" seamless=\"\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<h3><b>Oklahoma\u2019s \u2018short-term solution\u2019<\/b><\/h3><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In January, the Omicron variant was slamming Oklahoma schools, forcing them to <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2022\/01\/06\/stateimpact-is-again-tracking-school-closures-amid-the-coronavirus-pandemic\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">close<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> because so many teachers were getting sick and finding enough substitutes was essentially impossible.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So on Jan. 18, Gov. Kevin Stitt decided he wanted to do something about it by signing an <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kosu.org\/health\/2022-01-18\/amid-rampant-covid-surge-oklahoma-gov-kevin-stitt-turns-to-state-employees-to-shore-up-substitute-teaching-slots\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">executive order<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to add to the substitute teacher pool with state employees.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the press conference announcing the executive order, Stitt was resolute about keeping students in schools as the coronavirus surges across the state.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cOklahoma students deserve that option of being in-person, in class with their teachers,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He pleaded with state employees &#8211; and really anyone else &#8211; to go be a sub in their local school.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cBecause in-person learning is so, so important,\u201d Stitt said.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">About 250 of the state\u2019s 32,000 signed up to volunteer and it\u2019s unclear how many ended up in a classroom. Stitt\u2019s executive order quietly expired this week.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cOur office was thrilled that hundreds of state employees signed up to help their local school districts,\u201d Stitt Press Secretary Kate Vesper wrote in an email. \u201c[T]his was never meant to be a long-term fix. The governor offered this executive order as a creative, short-term solution to help schools.\u201d<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Vesper wrote the governor is now hoping to find other ways to deal with the teacher shortage. She pointed to a goal from his State of the State Address to pay some teachers six-figure salaries, which is part of a measure still making its way through the legislative process <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.oklegislature.gov\/BillInfo.aspx?Bill=HB4388&Session=2200\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">House Bill 4388<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Vesper also touted House Bill 3658, which Stitt signed into law. That measure \u201cremoves obsolete barriers and\u00a0 helps people become alternatively certified teachers,\u201d she wrote.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The state employee-substitute plan has been widely criticized by public school educators.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI\u2019m just gonna put this out there once more because \u2018stupid is as stupid does.\u2019 Forrest. Forrest Gump,\u201d El Reno Superintendent Craig McVay wrote in a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/mcvay51\/status\/1483525183507873792\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">tweet<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> after the announcement.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">McVay t<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.edweek.org\/leadership\/awake-at-2-a-m-agonizing-over-life-and-death-decisions-a-superintendents-story\/2022\/01\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">old Education Week<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> later in January about the agonizing decisions he had to make amid the pandemic and mentioned that every central office staffer who subbed &#8211; 17 in total &#8211; caught the coronavirus while subbing\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_34875\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignright\" style=\"max-width: 672px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-34875 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/05\/Dana-Leach_crop-672x672.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"672\" height=\"672\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/05\/Dana-Leach_crop-672x672.jpg 672w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/05\/Dana-Leach_crop-1920x1920.jpg 1920w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/05\/Dana-Leach_crop-768x768.jpg 768w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/05\/Dana-Leach_crop-1536x1536.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/05\/Dana-Leach_crop-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/05\/Dana-Leach_crop-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/05\/Dana-Leach_crop-620x620.jpg 620w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/05\/Dana-Leach_crop-1080x1080.jpg 1080w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/05\/Dana-Leach_crop.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 672px) 100vw, 672px\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Provided photo \/ Oklahoma City Public Schools<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dana Leach, Human Resources Director for Oklahoma City Public Schools<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h3><b>Covid closures highlight long term problem<\/b><\/h3><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">By mid-February the closures pretty much stopped. The need for subs, though, didn\u2019t.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIt has been a chaotic year for trying to find subs,\u201d said Dana Leach, director of human resources for Oklahoma City Public Schools. \u201cWith the dreaded C-word, COVID, it was so, so difficult.\u201d<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Leach said OKCPS got about 50 substitute teachers from the state employee pool who went into classrooms. But the district needs approximately 200 teachers to sub in each day.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They\u2019ve tried <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kosu.org\/education\/2022-01-20\/oklahoma-city-public-schools-bumps-substitute-pay-amid-states-school-staffing-shortage\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">raising pay<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> using coronavirus relief funds &#8211; which has helped a bit. But the job still tops out at a daily rate of $150. Leach says people often have different reasons for wanting to come in, like a flexible schedule or simply enjoying the work.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThey do it\u2026 not for the money or for any of that,\u201d Leach said. \u201cBut they do it because they enjoy kids and want to help us out.\u201d<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The district recently brought in a third party company to help. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kellyeducationalstaffing.us\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Kelly Educational Staffing<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> helps schools find substitute teachers across the country.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The company helps more than a dozen school districts find subs when needed, most of them in the Oklahoma City metro area, said Keith Elliott, the company\u2019s Senior Director of Client Services for the Southwest Region.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Kelly Educational Staffing is able to find subs for about 70% of jobs that need to be filled in Oklahoma, Elliott said. Pre-pandemic he said the number was closer to 95%.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI think we saw a lot of folks during that time look at things and say, Hey, you know, I substitute teach. It&#8217;s kind of a part-time gig, but maybe I&#8217;m not going to do that anymore. Maybe I&#8217;m going to find something else,\u201d Elliott said.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ultimately, if schools want to fix the substitute shortage, they\u2019ll need to have more full-time teachers.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIf our schools hire well and they have people coming in on the front end, you know, I think we&#8217;re confident that the recruiting numbers are starting to bounce back,\u201d Elliott said.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It will be a big bounce.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Oklahoma\u2019s teacher shortage is a year-old <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2021\/05\/27\/oklahoma-continues-to-battle-teacher-shortage-but-pandemic-hasnt-caused-a-mass-exit-yet\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">problem<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. And there were fears of a pandemic-caused mass exit from the profession. That hasn\u2019t happened yet, but the shortage is as bad as it\u2019s been in recent years.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As the 2021-22 school year draws to a close, Oklahoma reports 42,551 certified teachers, which is actually an improvement from recent lows in 2018 of 1,000 fewer teachers. This year Oklahoma had a record 3,616 emergency teachers \u2013 teachers who aren\u2019t fully qualified but allowed to teach if there\u2019s a need. Ten years ago, there were less than 100.<\/span><\/p><p><a href=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2018\/01\/22\/low-pay-no-1-reason-oklahoma-teachers-quit-survey-says\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Low pay and high stress<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> are consistently cited as a reason for leaving. A 2018 survey \u2013 conducted before Oklahoma\u2019s teacher walkout \u2013 cited those two factors as the top reasons teachers quit.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>What\u2019s it like to sub?<\/b><\/h3><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">StateImpact used community engagement efforts to learn more about this issue.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">More than 60 educators from across the state responded to a callout on social media to share their thoughts on the lack of substitutes.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Many of those respondents were full-time teachers who couldn\u2019t find substitutes when they had to miss school. Substitute teachers who responded said they have no problem finding work. But the job has become a bit harder during the pandemic.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One of the subs who responded was Elaine Meek from Tulsa.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">She said doesn\u2019t want to be a babysitter. She wants to make a connection with students and try to help them learn while their teacher is out.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI like to work with kids,\u201d she said. \u201cI enjoy talking to them and being in the classroom and. It&#8217;s just. It&#8217;s just fun for me, I guess.\u201d<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Meek said it can be hard work. And it\u2019s also varied. Sometimes a teacher leaves a detailed lesson plan, sometimes there\u2019s nothing. But regardless, she likes to make connections with the students.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201c[I] usually try to teach them something, even if it&#8217;s not in the curriculum, maybe for that semester,\u201d Meek said. \u201cYou know, I try to talk to them about something going on in the news.\u201d<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As for Leach of OKCPS, no matter what\u2019s happening at the state capitol or at a school board meeting she has a simple request for anyone who is able. The extra pay might help. But bottomline is it\u2019s a job with flexibility that someone has to want to do. And it\u2019s a role that school districts will continue to need moving forward.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cPlease, please come sign up,\u201d Leach said to anyone interested in subbing. \u201cIt&#8217;s not as hard as you think. Like the kids are really welcoming.\u201d<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIt actually ends up being a lot of fun.\u201d<\/span><\/p><p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">KOSU\u2019s Kateleigh Mills contributed to this report.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Earlier this year a teacher shortage in Oklahoma forced hundreds of school districts to close their doors because of a lack of substitutes to fill in for educators out with the coronavirus.But even though that substitute shortage no longer occupies the headlines, it persists. And heading into fall 2023, it\u2019s unclear what the broader teacher [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":209,"featured_media":34874,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34872"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/209"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34872"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34872\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34884,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34872\/revisions\/34884"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34874"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34872"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34872"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34872"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}