Other supplementary staff at the school shared their own summer plans with me, which included tutoring, online teaching, and retail work. The burnout and frustration in the classrooms was palpable. In response to the shortage, many districts have increased their substitute pay with some districts more than doubling their daily wages. But the memories of suddenly being left jobless and without income are all too fresh for some of us.
As COVID began its massive spread in early and schools scrambled to make the switch to online learning, the plight of substitute teachers and hourly school employees largely felt like an afterthought. Many of us depended on daily work to survive and were left to navigate the unemployment system alone with very little information regarding our futures at the schools where we had been working.
This frustration was further compounded by lack of access to employee health care during those early days of a generational public health crisis.
Substitute teaching has long been heralded as an ideal part-time position for retired teachers. Many of those ex-teachers are in an age range that puts them at higher risk for COVID infections and many may have decided that the prospect of getting sick is no longer worth it.
This is especially true for substitutes who move from school to school daily. Risk of infection played into my own decision to take an adjunct position at a large university rather than returning to my long-term substitute job at a middle school. Though I am once again in large classrooms and encountering hundreds of people a day, the university has strict vaccination mandates for faculty, staff, and students. These resignations get to the heart of this substitute teacher shortage: Workers throughout the country are fed up with stagnant wages, lack of job security, and poor conditions.
From Kellogg workers striking in Michigan to restaurant workers unionizing in Memphis , the labor movement in the United States is having an important moment.
Substitute teachers leaving the profession is simply part of this moment. Many students fell behind last year during remote learning, "and we're double-timing it to try to catch them up," she told CNN's "New Day" on Tuesday. She also points to "insecurity about how the health of students, teachers and staff is going to be protected going forward. And she said pay is a "huge issue. But right now, it's brutal. To illustrate the severity of the problem, Spar scrolled through several districts job listings during his video.
There are vacancies in Duval County in northeast Florida, and openings in South Florida's Broward County for 89 elementary, 41 high school, and 25 middle school teachers. The next survey will be conducted in January after classes resume from winter break. Correction: This story has been updated to remove outdated information regarding Florida's plan to use federal Covid relief funds for schools. Student Eugene Dent, age 12, quickly stood before the classroom camera and microphone, and answered questions provided by Lasley.
He and other students referenced the past school year, filled with virtual learning and COVID protocols, as a preview for the use of a remote teacher.
It feels the same, because when we were home quarantining, I got used to it. Lancaster ISD wants to find qualified teachers for each classroom, they say. But until that happens, the teacher shortage will be filled by remote educators, who may be living somewhere else throughout the nation. Abbott's mask mandate ban, a federal judge ruled. Pandemic Progress?
0コメント