Schools face a substitute teacher crisis. These districts are getting creative to fix it.
In Missouri, a barrel company's employees serve as substitute teachers. In Connecticut, a superintendent turns to recent high school grads.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/education/ ... d_ms_tw_ma
Many school districts report a daily struggle to put adults in front of students. They have pulled administrators out of offices and into classrooms, canceled professional development sessions and asked teachers to give up planning periods and juggle multiple classes. When all else has failed, they've sent students home to virtual learning.
The pandemic has exposed chronic staffing shortages in the country's schools. Even before the coronavirus hit, schools were able to fill only about 54 percent of 250,000 teacher vacancies each day, according to a survey of more than 2,000 educators released early last year by the EdWeek Research Center. Now the shortages are much worse, district leaders and principals say, because the need has grown significantly, even as the job has become more risky. Many retired teachers, a group districts often tap for help, have opted not to sub and risk exposure to the virus, while parents who seek substitute jobs for part-time income have stayed home to supervise children learning online.
The desperate search for substitute teachers has led some states and school districts to lower qualifications for the people entrusted to educate and supervise America's schoolchildren at a moment when learning losses are already stacking up.
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The shortages, and how states respond to them, could have long-term consequences: Studies have documented that just 10 days of teacher absences can result in lower math and English language arts test scores for elementary school students. And not all substitute teachers are equally qualified; those with training and certifications are more effective than those with minimal credentials. Research also shows that schools with high poverty rates and large numbers of Black and Latino students have the greatest difficulties finding qualified substitutes to cover classes.
sent by the college, I explained that the college would have a fight on it's hands if they deviated from the CDC guidelines. I can't imagine any faculty willingly teaching in the classroom without social distancing. Most of our classrooms are limited to 40 seats. Students sit at tables and are right on top of each other. 
You can't wait until life isn't hard anymore before you decide to be happy.
