COLOMBIA – After retiring from a 30-year educational career in New Jersey, Jean Read moved to Horry County in 2017 to be closer to his son.
However, like many other veteran teachers, Read found it difficult to completely abandon the profession, so she started working as a substitute in the district for $ 80 a day.
“To be honest, it is much less stressful,” she said. “I do the best part of teaching, which is being with the children. I’m not bogged down with all the paperwork. “
Today, people like Read are among the most sought after products in South Carolina’s public education system, as districts are taking aggressive steps to sweeten incentive packages and deepen their surrogate teacher pools amid an escalating pandemic. the shortages of full-time educators.
“It’s a big problem, and it was a big problem before COVID,” said Sherry East, president of the South Carolina Education Association. “We don’t pay substitute teachers enough money to come and do what we ask them to do.”
Substitute teachers in South Carolina may need the benefits if districts expect to hire them, the data suggest.
According to Kelly Education, a leading placement company that has partnered with more than 7,000 school districts across the country, salaries for substitute teachers in South Carolina are $ 70.10 a day, 35% below the national average .
That is why districts like Richland Two started offering salary increases of between $ 25 and $ 35 a day, establishing compensation from $ 95 to $ 115 a day.
“Substitute teachers have always played an important role in educating our students,” said Libby Roof, a district spokesman. “They help maintain our students’ academic progress because they are committed to quality teaching and learning.”
With 472 substitutes already approved to work at Richland Two, half said they would be willing to accept assignments within classrooms as students gradually returned.
A few miles away, in the other county in the capital, Richland One administrators are also finding ways to strengthen their ranks. There are currently 620 qualified substitutes, but only 400 can work this year, as many do not want shifts because they are at high risk of becoming infected with COVID-19. Training courses, once held monthly, take place weekly.
“We are also looking for substitute teachers during virtual teacher fairs,” said district spokeswoman Karen York. “Some are not fully certified, but are working on their certification and we recommend that they serve as substitutes.”
Richland One subs that work more than 90 days are also included in the district’s retention incentives.
It’s a similar story in Dorchester Two, a 26,000 student district in Lowcountry. All substitutes who work 20 days in February and March automatically participate in a drawing to win a $ 500 bonus. Five will be chosen.
This is in addition to existing policies, such as a $ 100 bonus for substitute teachers who work 10 Fridays a year and a $ 15 long-term assignment bonus for students in classrooms for at least 15 consecutive days.
“I was a teacher and principal myself and I have always valued them, but I think the pandemic has brought out the importance of our replacements,” said Scott Matthews, assistant district personnel director. “They are more important than ever now.”
Your district has 567 substitutes available and 30% are currently working. But with students moving to five days of face-to-face learning at the end of the month, that number is likely to increase.
Even before the arrival of COVID, the state was already predicting a shortage of teachers, opening the 2020-21 school year with 700 vacancies – an increase of 26% over the previous year, according to the Recruitment Center’s annual offer. , Retention and Advancement of Educators and demand report issued in December.
The data from this research was collected in the fall, so the center is taking the rare step of updating its findings in a new snapshot that is due to be released in March.
East said the results of the center’s latest survey could be shocking – emphasizing why replacement teachers are in high demand right now.
“It wouldn’t take long to push a teacher out the door now, I mean, honestly, they’re at the breaking point,” said East. “There is a certain niche of people who love to subdue and now, during the pandemic, they are like, ‘No’. “
The contributions of substitute teachers during a time when schools are returning to normal operations cannot be overstated, said Tamara Turner, head of human resources at Lexington-Richland 5.
“Their role has grown in importance as the district responds to the absences of teachers who are away due to illness, quarantine or caring for others during the pandemic,” she said. “As a result, there is an increasing need to attract and retain caring professionals with passion and enthusiasm to work with young people to serve as substitutes. “
In a normal year, students in a classroom where a teacher says he is sick can be transferred to another or grouped within a cafeteria or other area if a replacement is not found. But social distance requirements make this impossible, so finding coverage for a classroom full of students is a must.
And it is one of the reasons why teachers push for eligibility in the next phase of distribution of the COVID vaccine.
Patrick Kelly, a member of the Palmetto State Teachers’ Association, used his own school as an example of why teachers need to be vaccinated to open more schools and keep classrooms up and running.
At Blythewood High School in Richland Two, 18 certified teachers and a large number of students were quarantined on February 2, but the authorities only managed to find five substitutes – leaving 13 classes without cover.
Students in three of these classrooms were “sprinkled in other classrooms”, while students in the other 10 were sent to the auditorium en masse, where no real learning was taking place, denying the benefit of being in person. Vaccination of teachers, said Kelly, “lessens the staff shortages that our schools are facing.”
Read, the retired New Jersey teacher, longs to return to the classroom, but must wait at least until next year, as the underlying health conditions put her at a greater chance of contracting the virus.
But as soon as she can, Loris’ resident plans to return to work.
“As a teacher, I recognize the importance of that position,” said Read.
Seanna Adcox reported from Columbia.
