A paraprofessional at ConVal High School said there’s an apparent shortage of substitute teachers within the district during a public comment portion of a School Board meeting on Tuesday night.

“I have been aware of the shortage of subs in this school,” Ruth Benedict, a special education paraprofessional at ConVal High School, said during the meeting.

Benedict said she’s been asked to cover classes due to a lack of substitute teachers. She said teaching classes prevents her from completing her own job.

“I can’t do my job when I’m teaching,” she said.

Denise McLenon, an administrative assistant at ConVal, said the district currently has 71 active substitute teachers. She said the district doesn’t keep a year-to-year comparison and said it is continually hiring and losing subs so the number is constantly changing. She said the district doesn’t have a specific number of subs that it would like to have, only that they “hire as many qualified subs as we can with the pool of applicants that have applied.” 

President of the ConVal Education Association Patrick Cogan said in an email to the Ledger-Transcript that the shortage of substitute teachers is a “hot topic” within the district.

He said teachers are often asked to cover classes for absent colleagues and are not compensated for their time. Cogan said staff members often step up to fulfill these open positions because “we all want what is best for our students.” In many of the schools, Cogan said, school teachers are asked to take on double classes to help with the lack of coverage. He said teachers also give up their planning time to help cover other classes.

School Board Chair Myron Steere told Benedict at the meeting that the board is aware of the issue. He said one idea to assuage the problem is to hire a permanent teacher who would act as a substitute teacher. Steere said the district has also discussed how it could utilize teachers who have an extra period open during the day to fill in as a substitute for someone who is out.

Benedict said, “it’s crazy to think that someone’s planning period is being taken away so that they can cover a class.”

Superintendent Kimberly Saunders said that the administration is also aware of the issue. She said based on the low unemployment rate across the state, subs are “unusually hard to find.”  Saunders said the district has already limited the amount of professional development that happens during the week so that they don’t need as many subs to cover classes. She said the district has also increased the sub-pay rate on Mondays and Fridays by $20 for a full-day and $10 for a half-day sub.

“We are trying to make sure that our sub rate is in line, which it is, with the surrounding communities,” Saunders said during the meeting.

There are four different levels of pay for substitute teachers and paraprofessionals. Full-day subs who work 1 to 25 days receive $75 per day, while a half-day sub receives $37.50. The next two levels go up incrementally depending on how many days the sub works in a school year. ConVal retirees and subs who reached level 3 the previous year, receive $90 for a full-day and $45 for a half-day, which is the most a sub can earn. 

As a next step, Saunders said, administrators are looking to increase the sub rates on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays.

Cogan said becoming a substitute teacher is a “great opportunity for college students, retired teachers and all in between.” He said if more people knew about the shortage of subs within the district, more people might start applying.

Abby Kessler can be reached at 924-7172, ext. 234 or akessler@ledgertranscript.com.