CHARLESTON, W.Va. — County school systems are going to be able to hire student teachers to be substitute teachers in hopes of filling teaching vacancies created by the COVID-19 pandemic.
State School Superintendent Clayton Burch told members of the state Board of Education Wednesday that a program has been developed with the state Higher Education Policy Commission and the state’s colleges and universities that train teachers.
“So all seniors in their student teaching semester can actually apply as a paid substitute and forgo student teaching,” Burch said. “So substitute days will apply to their student teaching. We are just trying to fill in the gaps.”
Burch said several schools have had to close for COVID-19 after a number of teachers had to self-quarantine and in some instances weren’t enough substitutes to take their place.
Burch said having additional substitutes from the student teaching ranks will help. He said he’s already heard from one county school superintendent.
“You’d be surprised how two to four student (teachers) can make a big, big difference locally,” Burch said.
West Virginia American Federation of Teachers President Fred Albert told the state BOE that can expect more teachers to miss school because of the pandemic.
“They don’t want to risk their lives for something that is as dangerous as this COVID-19,” Albert said.
He said teacher are “worn out” one month into the school year.
“They’re doing face-to-face and remote instruction. They’re holding down two jobs and that can’t be sustained,” Albert said.
Student enrollment numbers down
Superintendent Burch also told the state BOE Wednesday that student enrollment is down 9,000 this school year.
In unofficial enrollment numbers, Burch said there are 252,433 students enrolled. He said 209,955 are in-person, which is more than 80% of all students.
“Five thousand kids dropped out of virtual and went back to in-person,” Burch said. “More and more students want to be in school, in-person.”
The official attendance report is made after two months of the school year.
COVID-school cases
Burch said the infection rate in schools during the first month was .003% for teachers and staff .0002% for students.
Burch said there hasn’t been a single school outbreak that has exceeded four cases.
“They catch it early and yes, it can be frustrating when you have to quarantine and do contact tracing but the numbers are really showing that the schools are not a place where we’re seeing the spread,” Burch said.