Metro Creative

HANCOCK — School districts are continuing to look for substitute teachers to address the shortage.

In a February Michigan Education Association survey of 2,600 educators, the picked the teacher shortage as the biggest issue facing Michigan schools. Of any group of employees, the substitute teacher shortage was the most notable, they said; 92% said there were more vacancies in substitute teaching than usual.

Although the problem escalated during the pandemic, it’s cyclical, said Copper Country Intermediate Schools Superintendent Jim Rautiola.

“Obviously, the best course of action is a full-time teacher in front of kids, but anytime you get in a situation where folks are out sick, administrators are forced to get into the classrooms themselves or come up with some other measures… it’s critical that we do have a fair pool of subs, that we can get them in classrooms and keep the education running as soon as possible,” he said.

It’s already been an issue this year, said Christopher Davidson, superintendent for Public Schools of Calumet, Laurium & Keweenaw.

“We’ve already had days where we haven’t had enough substitute teachers available to cover the absences from staff,” he said.

K-5 appears to be the most affected by the substitute shortage, Davidson said. Partly, that’s a function of having more students than middle or high schools. Also, some subs are more comfortable in middle or high school, Davidson said.

Houghton-Portage Township Schools Superintendent Anders Hill said the district provides support for teachers who are unused to teaching a particular subject or grade level.

“There’s people that are very good for elementary, and people that are very good with middle and high school,” he said. “We can help get people up to speed in those areas if they’re new or uncertain.”

Districts will help the subs get the 60 credits needed to register as a teacher, Rautiola said.

“Really, it comes down to being able to interact with kids, have classroom management skills, and the willingness and heart to want to be in the classroom,” Rautiola said. “If you can’t manage a class, it’s difficult to do the work, or do teaching.”

An emergency bill passed last year in Michigan waived the 60-credit requirement for teachers to ease the shortfall for districts. The waiver was a “temporary Band-Aid,” Rautiola said, and was not extended for this year.

Davidson said it had provided a little more flexibility for the district. Only a few districts had been impacted across the ISD, Rautiola said.

Davidson said C-L-K had yet to see any impact from another new law, which shortens the waiting period after retiring when former teachers can become substitutes.

When there aren’t enough substitutes, schools have to get creative covering absences.

“You have to work with what you have available internally,” Davidson said. “It could be a combination of different people covering that classroom to make it through to the end of the day.”

The CCISD held a recruitment event earlier this month. Districts are also offering higher pay to try to entice potential subs. Daily rates for substitutes have gone up to between $110 to $130, versus $80 to $85 a day two years ago, Rautiola said. Longer-term subs can make more than $140 a day, Rautiola said.

Houghton-Portage Township is increasing payments by $10 a day to $120.

“I’m not sure if that’ll increase the sub pool, but hopefully that’ll keep the subs we do have wanting to come to Houghton-Portage Township schools,” Hill said.

Hill also participated virtually in a Marqeutte meeting last month with State Superintendent Michael Rice focused more generally on educator shortages. Remedies being considered are creating stipends for student teaching, as well as grants for people who have a degree that might not be teaching.

Hill said those incentives could also boost the number of substitutes.

“I remember being a new teacher when there weren’t a lot of new teacher jobs, and a lot of teachers got started by substitute teaching,” he said