School districts across the country have been experiencing substitute shortages. While WJ has been able to ensure that staff or substitutes can cover classes every day, the shortages have presented challenges.
The biggest issue at WJ is the number of substitute vacancies for classes every day.
“We still have a lot of substitute openings that aren’t filled yet, and that means our teachers have to do class coverage, almost every day. For example, on Monday [3/13/23], we had 17 teachers out and four jobs were unfilled, which teachers from different or same departments must cover for, meaning that they must sacrifice their planning period,” school administration secretary Keira Kinsey Nahar said. “Sometimes, we’ve had as many as eight unfilled jobs a day [this year].”
It’s not ideal for teachers to provide coverage for other classes, but the county has raised the teacher pay per extra period covered from $15 at the start of this school year to $40 now.
Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) has been working on hiring more substitutes, such as boosting substitute teacher pay and adjusting the requirements for becoming a substitute to decrease unfilled substitute vacancies and limit the need for in-school class coverage.
The shortage of substitutes in the county can be partly attributed to the Covid-19 pandemic, which created a challenging environment for schools, especially during remote learning. The pandemic-era stresses may have also led to a decrease in the number of people interested in being a substitute teacher.
Another concern for school districts has been staff shortages, which, fortunately, hasn’t been a prominent problem for WJ. The school is fully staffed this year, and it will continue to be fully staffed in the 2023-2024 school year.
“We’ve been really blessed that our teachers have been here for years,” school secretary Natalie Britton said.
The school’s counseling department has also remained strong in the face of counselor shortages across the nation.
I have colleagues at other MCPS high schools who have not been able to fill in positions this school year. They’ve had a posted position since November or October or last summer. And they cannot get qualified candidates to apply. We didn’t have that at Walter Johnson.
— Imani Ladson
An important factor in considering ways to actively retain substitutes and staff is the working environment.
“I think retention comes from a positive school environment. It comes from having excellent students, which we have at Walter Johnson, and colleagues to work with,” Ladson said.
School administration secretary Keira Kinsey Nahar works on staffing-related tasks. “The shortage is a little better than last year, but it would be 100% better if we had a lot more subs,” Kinsey Nahar said.
