A shortage of substitute teachers has some San Benito County
educators scrambling to find qualified replacements.
Hollister – A shortage of substitute teachers has some San Benito County educators scrambling to find qualified replacements.
“We’re anticipating a real problem,” San Benito High School Human Resource Director Don Balfour said Thursday. “It not only impacts the teachers, but also the students.”
With only an estimated 26 substitute teachers available throughout the county, half the number of previous years, administrators worry that should the flu hit hard this year they well be left high and dry without a enough substitutes to fill the gaps.
The number of available substitutes has hit a three-year low at San Benito High School, Balfour said.
“This is the lowest number we’ve had since 2002,” he said. “Because of teacher shortages many of the substitutes have become full-time teachers.”
The high school has a pool of only 26 substitutes this year compared to nearly 50 last year. And many of those 26 substitutes work for other school districts in San Benito County, Balfour said.
“We have 26 people we can call, but our pool could be as small as three or four on any given day,” he said.
Few are able to identify the cause of the shortage, but some believe it’s the result of statewide shortage of teachers. Others believe that many substitutes have landed full-time teaching jobs as the result of teacher shortages over the last three years.
A substitute shortage creates headaches beyond finding someone to teach a class. When substitutes cannot be found, other full-time teachers usually fill the spot sacrificing class preparation and grading time, Balfour said.
The shortage could also mean that teachers will not be able to take time off in order to attend professional development conferences. This could mean that many teachers will miss out on vital training this year, San Benito County Superintendent of Schools Tim Foley said.
“It certainly has an impact on the programs in many ways and a definite impact on the professional development of teachers,” Foley said. “If we can’t get a replacement we can’t have those opportunities available.”
Balfour is particularly concerned about the spring months when the school has the highest number of teacher absences. On an average day between March and June the district usually needs anywhere from 13 to 20 substitute teachers, he said.
In the meantime, Balfour is hoping that recent college graduates will help will the void until more fully-qualified substitutes become available. Anyone with a college degree can be fingerprinted, undergo a background check and interview for a 30-day emergency substitute teacher credential with the County Office of Education, he said.
In order to encourage more substitute teachers to work at the high school, the district has been advertising in newspapers throughout the San Benito and its surrounding counties, Superintendent Jean Burns Slater said. The district is also encouraging teachers to schedule conferences and other planned absences during the middle of the week when demand for substitutes is lower, she said. The district has already looked into raising substitute pay, which ranges from $120 to $160 per day, but Slater doesn’t think that will help.
“I don’t think it matters how much we pay them,” Slater said. “I think there are only 26 in the county.”
San Benito High School is not alone, the shortage extends throughout San Benito County and the entire state, Hollister School District Assistant Superintendent Peter Gutierrez said Thursday. Gutierrez is particularly worried about flu season. If dozens of teachers are out sick, principals and vice principals may have to take over the job of teaching as well as running the schools.
“We can’t get enough substitutes,” he said. “It’s a problem throughout the state because class size reductions have opened up new jobs and depleted the pool of substitutes.”
