Central Coast schools struggling to find substitute teachers
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and last updated 2021-04-09 02:26:35-04
The Central Coast is desperate for substitute teachers.
Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, the Santa Barbara County Education Office told our team that California saw declining applications for substitute teachers. However, starting in March 2020, administrators say even fewer substitutes wanted to step into Zoom or in-person classes.
Central Coast school districts got creative when it came to recruiting and training new substitute teachers. At the Santa Barbara County Office of Education, there were 91 substitute teachers prior to the lockdown, which decreased to 36 last May.
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Since then, she has guided education initiatives across the Central Coast, serving as a board member for The Fund for Santa Barbara, an ambassador for Allan Hancock Community College, a graduate of Leadership Santa Maria Valley, and a founding board member for Central Coast Future Leaders.
Leading the remarks of the Commission for Women, Judy Weisbart said, “We have an amazing group of women in this community to do the work that is needed to heal us, to make us strong, and to make us financially and emotionally independent, and hopefully at some point in the history of our country, to have total equality.”
A critical shortage of substitute teachers during the pandemic may make it difficult for some California school districts to reopen campuses or to keep open schools already offering in-person instruction.
A sharp decline in applications for substitute teaching credentials since January, as well an exodus of already credentialed substitutes, have left some districts unable to keep classrooms open, especially as more teachers are quarantined after potential exposure to Covid-19.
Substitute pools at school districts are being drained, in part, because temporary teachers are tired of waiting to be called for the scarce jobs available during distance learning or are uncomfortable with the technology required. Some substitutes in districts that have reopened campuses fear returning to the classroom during the pandemic or can’t find child care for children who are home half the week in hybrid instruction.