US schools scrambling for teachers amid COVID-19

(AP): With many teachers opting out of returning to the classroom because of COVID-19, schools around the US are scrambling to find replacements and in some places lowering certification requirements to help get substitutes in the door.

Several states have seen surges in educators filing for retirement or taking leaves of absence. The departures are straining staff in places that were dealing with shortages of teachers and substitutes even before the pandemic created an education crisis.

Among those leaving is Kay Orzechowicz, an English teacher at northwest Indiana’s Griffith High School, who at 57 had hoped to teach for a few more years. But she felt her school’s leadership was not fully committed to ensuring proper social distancing and worried that not enough safety equipment would be provided for students and teachers.

Add the technology requirements and the pressure to record classes on video, and Orzechowicz said it “just wasn’t what I signed up for when I became a teacher”.

“Overall, there was just this utter disrespect for teachers and their lives,” she said. “We’re expected to be going back with so little.” When school leaders said teachers would be “going back in-person, full throttle, that’s when I said, ‘I’m not doing it. No'.”

Teachers in at least three states have died after bouts with COVID-19 since the start of the new school year. It’s unclear how many teachers in the US have become ill with COVID-19, but Mississippi alone reported 604 cases among teachers and staff.

Teachers retiring

In cases where teachers are exposed to the virus, they could face pressure to return to the classroom. The Trump administration has declared teachers to be “critical infrastructure workers” in guidance that could give the green light to exempting them from quarantine requirements.

Throughout Indiana, more than 600 teacher retirements have been submitted since July, according to state data. Although the state gets most of its teacher retirements during the summer, surveys suggest more retirements than usual could happen, as the calendar year progresses, said Trish Whitcomb, executive director of the Indiana Retired Teachers Association.

“I’ve gotten more (teachers) calling me back saying, ‘Well, I’m going to go ahead and retire',” Whitcomb said. “Some still wanted to go back in the classroom, but they didn’t think the risk was worth it. They looked at their grandkids and the life they have, and I think they’re saying, ‘I’m just not going to do it'.”

In Salt Lake County, Utah, the state’s most populated metropolitan area, more than 80 teachers have either resigned or retired early because of concerns about COVID-19 in schools. More than half of those happened in one of the county’s five school districts, Granite School District. All of the district’s teachers who left were fined $1,000 for failing to give 30 days’ notice.

Mike McDonough, president of the Granite Education Association teachers union, said the departures stem from frustration over how the schools have reopened. In Granite, most students will return to in-person instruction for four days a week, and there are few opportunities for teachers to instruct solely online.

Some teachers waited until the last minute, hoping that the district would change its reopening plan. But checking out of the classroom was “the only way to keep themselves safe”, he said.

“Teachers are still scared and overwhelmed,” McDonough said. “I have heard from teachers that are just heartbroken to leave the classroom, but they didn’t feel safe going back. They don’t want that level of risk, and they have no other choice but to get out.”

States bracing for further teacher shortages

Education leaders in states including Arizona, Kansas, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Texas have said they are bracing for worsening teacher shortages as the pandemic drives away some educators.

To try to maintain staffing levels in classrooms, the Missouri Board of Education made it easier to become a substitute teacher under an emergency rule. Instead of the previous requirement - 60 hours of college credit - eligible substitutes now only need to obtain a high school diploma, complete a 20-hour online training course and pass a background check.

Iowa responded similarly, relaxing coursework requirements and the minimum working age for newly hired substitutes.

In Connecticut, college students have been asked to step in as substitutes. Michele FemcBagwell, director of the teacher education programme at the University of Connecticut, said the school has been getting requests to use fifth-year graduate students as substitute teachers. Heavy class loads and internship responsibilities, though, limit their availability to one day a week.

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