SALISBURY — When it comes to substitute teachers, Rowan-Salisbury Schools is bucking a trend.

Across the country, public school districts report struggles finding enough substitute teachers to fill in amid the pandemic. In January, Wake County Schools reported a shortage of 200 substitute teachers each school day. Other reports outline substitute staff shortages at the state levels in South Carolina, Texas, Georgia and Louisiana, with thousands fewer teachers than needed to keep classrooms afloat.

In Rowan-Salisbury Schools, however, the situation has been stable.

“We have probably been more fortunate than some districts because we have a dedicated service calling and making those things happen,” RSS Chief Human Resources Officer Jill Hall-Freeman said.

That dedicated service is Kelly Education, an education staffing company that took over managing its substitute program last year. Last spring, the district had a 75% substitute fill rate and administration recommended the board contract with Kelly to take over the substitute program, with the exception of a few full-time subs employed directly by the district.

The cost of moving to Kelly would be neutral, but it would came with benefits for substitutes and the district expected it could increase the substitute fill rate, and it did. In August, RSS started in-person classes in the middle of the pandemic with a 77% fill rate, and in a month that rate climbed to 83%.

The impact of staffing shortages varies depending on what model districts are using. Regulations and mandates for public schools vary across the country. Within North Carolina, there are 115 school districts, and each one has its own plan. Some districts have stayed virtual all-year, and a handful have managed to bring kids into classrooms since August. Others have been moving between.

A major factor in substitute staffing, at the moment, is not just the number of faculty who are out of work for whatever reason, but that districts may not be using them as much depending on their models.

Hall-Freeman said the district is using fewer substitute teachers because of the large number of students enrolled virtually only. Summit Virtual Academy alone has a student population of about 2,500, making it the largest school in the district by far. It has double the number at Carson High School, the runner-up. High school students can also enroll virtually.

The district plans to keep its virtual options, but administration expects virtual enrollment to decline when the pandemic ends.

A district may not use a sub if it does not have to. So, many districts are not using substitute teachers for virtual classrooms. Kannapolis Superintendent Chip Buckwell said teaching virtually is much more difficult for most teachers.  

Buckwell said the district tried to do without additional subs if it did not have to, preferring to keep substitutes at individual schools and move staff to cover classes to limit the number of new people coming in.

The ratio of staff to students is the same. When students moved to virtual learning, faculty moved with them. While in-person classes are small, students are only in class two days a week, so teachers are seeing a similar number of kids total throughout.

Hall-Freeman said RSS has to monitor who is out closely, whether it’s for COVID-19 or another reason. An entire grade level of teachers absent at an elementary school presents some problems. If all the physical education and music teachers are out, a school has to consider how to move those kids around while a significant number of electives classes are unavailable.

KCS still requires most of its staff to come to work in person, with exceptions for people with confirmed medical concerns, but it also makes an effort to accommodate people and work with physicians.

Hall-Freeman said RSS has not had many instances of people feeling uncomfortable coming into schools and has made sure Kelly understands its protocols.

The districts are coping now, but staffing shortages have existed for years. Buckwell, echoed by RSS staff, said budget cuts from the N.C. General Assembly for the previous decade have constrained the number of staff in schools.

“We’ve had less and less staff for a long time,” Buckwell said.

Buckwell said the result is that everyone has to do more. Most teacher assistants in KCS, for example, have to be bus drivers and maintain a CDL license. So do custodians.

KCS Human Resources Director Kim Soryz said there has always been a sub shortage. So, the district anticipated getting them to come in during the pandemic would be more difficult. Soryz said it is difficult to tell how many subs are available to KCS right now because it has not been using them during virtual learning.

Broadly, Soryz said recruiting full-time faculty in certain areas is difficult in general. Mathematics, some science subjects and exceptional children positions are difficult to fill. She is concerned there will be more turnover in districts as students return.

RSS cases and quarantines peaked in early January, shortly after returning from winter break. On Tuesday. Hall-Freeman said there was an abnormal level of absenteeism after the holidays. On Jan. 19, a Knox Middle School teacher died due to COVID-19. On Tuesday, Gov. Roy Cooper and other state officials sent a letter to public school districts encouraging them to return students to classrooms.

RSS Associate Superintendent of Resources Carol Herndon said having teachers on site during the week is not a concern, but maintaining safety protocols such as social distancing while moving toward full time, in-person learning is a concern.

“I wouldn’t say it couldn’t be done, but it would be challenging,” Herndon said.