Columbia Public Schools are having a difficult time finding enough part-time substitute teachers. So the School District is considering hiring full-time substitutes to help solve the problem. Columbia Public Schools’ spokesperson Michelle Baumstark explains full-time substitutes would have to fill in wherever they were assigned. Part-time substitutes don’t have to.
“Our substitutes have the option to turn down an open opportunity for a sub and often times what happens is that it’s our more challenging positions that we struggle to fill," Baumstark says. "If we were to have 30 permanent substitutes on staff, they would be able to fill those positions which are frequently the ones that are turned down.”
Baumstark says hiring full-time substitutes is beneficial to student learning. Hiring the teachers would cost the District more than $350,000. Baumstark says The School Board will decide whether to approve that spending in the near future.