Substitute teachers needed now more than ever

GLASGOW, Ky. – With school getting ready to start some people wonder if classes will be interrupted by sick teachers.

School may or may not be starting in person sometime soon, but schools must prepare for everything. That includes finding an ample number of substitute teachers for each district.

Obtaining enough substitute teachers is a struggle in a normal year. A global COVID-19 pandemic creates an environment where subs may be needed now more than ever before according to Cortni Crews, the assistant superintendent of Barren County Schools.

“Everything is just a little bit more challenging now, but they are so vital. Our parent volunteers and our substitute teachers are so vital to the success of any school and any district so we can’t thank them enough for the job they do and we encourage anyone interested to please contact us and come out and we could sure use your help,” said Crews.

Barren County High School is tackling this issue head-on.

The school already has about 100 substitute teachers lined up for the school year and have devised a plan to limit their exposures to students.

“If we end up going in person and there is a shortage, schools will have to have a plan. For example, they may have a plan where someone gives up their planning period and covers somebody else’s class, of course everybody jumps in. It’s not uncommon for our principals to be watching a class all day long or our school counselors because everybody has got to do what they got to do,” said Crews.

Substitutes will be assigned one to two buildings where they will rotate, according to Leigh Allbright, administrative assistant at Barren County Schools.

“If something happened, you know contact tracing, you’d only have certain, you know, a small amount of people in the building,” said Albright.

“We are hopeful that if we are allowed to go in person that we will have substitutes that will want to go to the schools and then that the schools want them so we are going to try to match up so that we limit the different schools that they are in,” said Crews.

Substitute teachers are now an even more important tool for schools because of the virus.

The Barren County Board of Education is meeting Thursday night to discuss how to proceed with the first days of classes.