Substitute shortage causing this school district in southwest IL to take extra day off
Highland schools will be taking an extra day off this month, after a vote by the school board Oct. 25 — in part due to the ongoing shortage of substitute teachers.
Thursday, Nov. 11, is already a day off on the school calendar due to Veteran’s Day. Many staff and families had asked the district leaders about the possibility of extending the observance to Friday for a four-day weekend, according to Superintendent Mike Sutton in a letter to the public.
In fact, Sutton said he has already assigned 18-20 substitutes for the day, and when he began denying requests for personal days, staff and teachers indicated they wanted to take a “dock day” for no pay.
“With our ongoing challenges to find substitutes, it would be difficult to make any sort of quality instructional day possible,” Sutton said.
With so many parents also aiming for a four-day weekend, Sutton said, many students will be absent as well.
A teacher attending the meeting agreed, adding holding school that day will create a huge backlog for the teachers who do attend, in trying to arrange catch-up work for the students who are absent.
“I fear on Nov. 12 if we don’t do this, we will have large groups of kids who will not have a teacher in the classroom and it’s going to be a wasted instruction day,” Sutton said.
He recommended to the school board Friday, Nov. 12, should be a day off. The school calendar will still end May 31, with one fewer “emergency day” reflected in the total. If the district uses no snow days this year, the last day of school would be six days prior to May 31, rather than the current seven. The board voted in favor of the change.
Sutton added every school district in Madison County is facing a similar issue, and are either canceling school or holding a parent-teacher conference day or in-service day to get around it.
Meanwhile, COVID-19 infections reported by Highland schools are much lower, with no new cases and only three quarantines reported as of Oct. 22 — except for Sutton himself, who stated he tested positive earlier in October and was quarantined at home. He said other than coughing and aches he “survived quite well,” and is now back at work, and was present at the board’s most recent meeting.
The prior report Oct. 8 included 14 new cases and 16 quarantines, which still was lower than late September, when 30 students tested positive in one week. Sutton said Highland High School has gone two or three weeks without a single case.