Burlington School District has a shortage of substitute teachers, and now they’re looking at ways to fix the issue.
Jeremy Tabor, Director of Human Resources for the Burlington School District spoke to the school board at Monday’s meeting regarding the challenges the district is facing in finding enough substitute teachers.
Tabor explained why this is not just a local problem but a state wide dilemma.
“Majority of the population that would be eligible to sub is actually out working,” Tabor says, “One of the things that was discussed, is looking at options where we can provide more opportunities for current Para Educators to obtain their slip authorization, which they’re already in the school system. They would have the ability to and the flexibility to step into those roles.”
Superintendent Pat Coen says that substitute teachers are in high demand because teachers are called out of the classroom to attend state required meetings and events frequently.
“We’ve had as many as 5 teachers gone at the high school at the same time and no sub,” said Coen, “So it’s getting ugly. Jeremy has some great ideas, talked about students and using some things with associate subs, which would then allow us to have some of our associates who have degrees attend the class to get the temporary sub license, but I’m also working with the Board of Education Examiners in Des Moines to try and solve that problem.”
Coen is also offering financial incentives to encourage current subs to come in more often and to attracts subs from other districts. Coen says that it “will cost us to fix this but we will fix it.”
To obtain a Substitute teaching license the person is required to have a Bachelor’s degree, a valid or expired teaching license, at least 15 hours of contact hours and a full criminal background check.
For more information on substitute teaching, authorization and licensure, contact the Iowa Board of Educational Examiners at 515-281-3245.
