Greg Skedros passes at 93 page 12 February 4, 2022 | Vol. 3 Iss. 05
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SCHOOLS STRUGGLE TO COVER CLASSES
By Becky Ginos becky.g@davisjournal.com FARMINGTON—At the beginning of the school year the Davis School District had close to 100 classified positions to fill such as bus drivers and lunchroom workers. Now it’s February and not only are those still open but there is also a shortage of people willing to substitute teach. “This is a situation we’ve never faced before,” said Davis School District Director of Communication & Operations, Chris Williams. “”The problem isn’t that we don’t have enough substitutes. We have plenty. Our pool exceeds 2,000 people, they’re just not accepting substitute positions.” The district has had a 90-99 percent fill rate for a number of years, he said. “Currently it’s 85.29 percent. We’re shooting for 100 percent so teachers don’t have to do double duty and not do their regular job to cover a class.” Williams said there could be a variety of reasons people don’t want to substitute. “Maybe you have a substitute teacher who doesn’t want to substitute during a global pandemic. Some like the flexible schedule of not being tied to a specific job, others are willing to only substitute in the south end of the county and don’t want to drive somewhere else. Combine all of those factors and a global pandemic and substitutes are hard to find.” It’s a challenge for a school to know what to do, he said. “Teachers in secondary schools usually have a prep period during the day. So you might have a science teacher whose coworker is out and a substitute can’t be found so they fill Please see TEACHERS: pg. 4
ALICIA LAWSON, AN ENGLISH AND JOURNALISM TEACHER at Farmington High School shows a student how to properly wrap up a mic before stowing it into the pouch. The district is experiencing an unprecedented shortage of substitutes willing to teach.
Photo by Roger V. Tuttle