By Sophie Quinton
Stateline.org/TNS
Josephine Brewington has been a substitute teacher in suburban Beech Grove, Indiana, for a decade, but her job has grown in importance as her school district scrambles to supervise pupils whose teachers are sick, quarantining or caring for others.
“We’d have teachers from the high school come over and help teach fourth graders because we didn’t have enough subs,” Brewington said of how the system has handled absences this fall. “People from the offices are helping, principals are covering classrooms - it’s like everyone’s pitching in.”
President-elect Joe Biden has said he wants most schools to be reopened within the first 100 days of his administration, and many city and state policymakers also are pushing schools to offer in-person instruction. They note that the risk of COVID-19 outbreaks in schools is low, working parents rely on schools for child care and students are better able to keep up when they’re in classrooms.