California has a substitute teacher shortage. Why aren’t retired educators filling in?
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Sacramento Teacher Shortage
School districts across the Sacramento region are struggling to fill dozens of positions, both with permanent teachers and substitutes. Teacher shortages have exacerbated the already long list of challenges schools are facing during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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California has a substitute teacher shortage. Why aren’t retired educators filling in?
‘It’s just a challenge.’ Sacramento substitute describes his role amid teacher shortage
Schools are experiencing a dire shortage of substitute teachers. Last week, I asked a former colleague, who is a recently retired teacher, if he had considered subbing. He looked at me with amazement and responded, “Oh, hell no!” When I asked why, he explained that he has a granddaughter living with him.
“Why would I risk being in contact with over 100 teenagers every day and potentially infect a 14-month-old who can’t be vaccinated yet?” he said. He’s not willing to risk his health or his granddaughter’s for $180 a day.
This isn’t a new problem. I worked in high schools for 40 years. I remember coming to work in my very first year as a teacher with bronchitis for a week. I was prepping and teaching four different courses every day, so it was easier to continue teaching with bronchitis than do the prep work for a substitute each day.
The problem is that teaching, at any grade level, is a highly complex job.
Teachers draw upon their education, training and experience, weaving together hundreds of lessons over a school year. They constantly monitor progress and adjust lessons to meet their students’ capabilities and needs. It’s a craft with hundreds of nuances.
Most secondary teachers prepare for two or more courses each day. Elementary teachers are teaching up to five different subjects every single day. Finding a capable adult who can walk in cold and not disrupt this process has always been a challenge. Trained new teachers who were getting their feet wet or retired veteran teachers who wanted to make a little extra cash provided the best pool of capable subs. But those days are long gone.
There is a teacher shortage. Almost any credentialed teacher can find full-time work. There are very few young, qualified teachers looking for part-time work as a sub. So what about the thousands of retired educators? Beyond obvious issues with COVID, there are other obstacles.
As parents learned during lockdown, schools use an impressive array of technology. It’s one thing to help your student follow a lesson on Zoom or Google Classroom. It’s much more challenging to figure out how to utilize those tools to deliver a lesson. Add in interactive white boards, digital sound assist systems and a range of tablet applications for specific subjects, and you can imagine the challenges facing a retired teacher who missed the technology revolution of the past few years.
My wife (a retired third grade teacher) and I have several friends who are still teaching. Some are incredibly frustrated at the behavior of students and parents. They are seeing defiance and combativeness in kids that they seldom experienced before. Some speculate that the confrontational and mean-spirited behavior of adults on social media, and even at board meetings, is naturally showing up in kids at school.
“It seems like we lost a year of maturity and a degeneration in manners,” said one teacher friend. “I spend so much more time with discipline. It is sucking the joy out of teaching.”
Retired teachers know that if that’s how students are treating their regular teachers, a substitute teacher is in for it. Life is too short for that kind of stress.
Finally, beyond COVID, the epidemic of gun violence in schools has taken its toll. Most current teachers have experienced real lockdowns and shelter-in-place events. They practice barricading doors and windows in drills. Imagine being a substitute teacher in a school going into lockdown. Even the drills are unsettling. It’s not worth it for $180.
This story was originally published December 15, 2021 at 5:30 AM.