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While many schools are welcoming children back, superintendents in northern Michigan are still looking to fill a number of positions.
Not only are they looking for teachers, they are in desperate need of substitutes and paraprofessionals.
Filling these positions has not been easy for districts in recent years, but it has been even more difficult during the pandemic.
West Shore ESD Superintendent Dr Jason Jeffrey says the school has 50 paraprofessionals, which is about 25% of its staff.
“Right now it’s getting really, really hard to find qualified people,” Dr. Jeffrey said. “There are nine districts in our service area, and I believe all but one need at least one paraprofessional, so I would say it’s pretty clear that there is a substantial need in our area.
Shannon Miller’s son will be entering Grade 7 this fall.
He suffers from high-level autism and relies on paraprofessionals to help him through school or when he needs a break.
“I need someone else to be there to make sure they meet their needs,” Miller said. “He had a really, really good connection with all of his parapros that he had, and they were really important to him.”
Miller says paraprofessionals play a huge role in his son’s life and in the lives of other students.
“They make those connections with these paraprofessionals, and they maybe don’t have a close relationship with their teacher, because he’s someone they count on being there, they count on helping them, and that’s a constant, ”Miller said. .
But these aren’t just paraprofessionals, Benzie’s central schools are struggling to find replacement teachers.
“On an average year, we are generally in our twenties,” said Superintendent Amiee Erfourth. “Last year we were definitely down, about halfway, and as I look into the year ahead we are hovering around 12 replacements.”
Superintendent Erfourth says she is worried about the few submarines available for the next school year.
“Some buildings can accommodate four people on a given day, and we have five, so it’s important to have a good number of people available and ready to help,” Superintendent Erfourth said.
She says there are several reasons why there just aren’t enough subscribers
“I just know that right now there are a lot of jobs available everywhere, and so I think people are taking them instead,” Superintendent Erfourth said.
Dr Jeffrey has the same problem.
“It seems there are so many jobs available,” he said. “I think it probably has an impact on everyone. You don’t have the pool of candidates you once had.
Schools say the shortage of paraprofessionals and substitutes has been a problem for the past few years, but now the shortage is worse due to the pandemic.
“There were concerns about Covid and not knowing what it would look like,” Superintendent Erfourth said.
And with the threat of Covid still looming, Benzie Central came up with the idea of ”designated submarines” for their schools.
“Each building could have a substitute teacher who worked all year round every day of the year,” Superintendent Erfourth said. “Then they could fill in at any time.”
The school has also increased their salary and is trying to find other incentives.
West Shore ESD also tries to think outside the box.
“We’re really, really trying to constantly have open lines of communication, and we’re trying to find out what kinds of things people are looking for that make the job more satisfying,” Dr. Jeffrey said.
But even with these adjustments, that may not be enough.
“I think we’re going to face the fight for a while,” Superintendent Erfourth said.
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