Franklin Public Schools has not been able to fulfill all their open positions during this pandemic period. This wbur report confirms that Franklin is not alone in finding qualified teachers.
"Just after Thanksgiving, Falmouth High School Principal Mary Gans got a call: the school had a positive case. Twelve of her staff members were considered “close contacts” and had to quarantine immediately.
"I just [did] not have the ability to cover all of their classes, even for the rest of the day," Gans said. "There just weren’t the bodies that we could pull to satisfy that kind of puzzle."
Substitute teachers are very hard to come by this year, so the school decided to go fully remote for a week. The hybrid model is back up and running at Falmouth High School, but Gans said having enough teachers is an ongoing challenge.
"We’ve been so short that I’ll go and sub in classes when teachers are out," she said. "And I’ve done that in the past, but not like this year.""
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From the Re-opening Report on the School Committee agenda for Dec 22, 2020
Personnel
1.Staffing. As case numbers rise, we continue to have an increase in staff absences. Coverage continues to be a challenge at all levels. Many are wondering what metrics we are using in terms of numbers of staff absent prior to switching to a remote day.
a.Actions taken (noted in the last update): Principals and assistant principals are providing coverage as needed. This takes away from their other responsibilities, which at this time include contact tracing (see below) in addition to other customary responsibilities. We are recruiting additional subs and monitors as college students return home for the next several months. We are requiring negative COVID tests for employment.b.Additional actions taken: Like many districts, I do not have definitive quantitative metrics on attendance to determine whether or not to move a school into remote learning for a day. Beyond an overall number of staff out, more needs to go into the decision including looking at which staff are out and their responsibilities within the school setting. We are also taking into consideration the duration for which coverage is a challenge for the school. The building administration and central office team discuss the coverage plan for a particular school and, when coverage can not be adequately provided, we have made the decision to go remote.
Read the full re-opening report here
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| wbur: "One Challenge To Reopening Schools: Finding Enough Teachers" |
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