NC turns to state employees for help as substitute teachers during omicron surge
Substitute teachers at K-12 schools in North Carolina for the next month may be drawn from a new pool of workers — state employees.
As surging COVID-19 cases means school staff shortages, North Carolina state employees can use their paid volunteer time to serve as substitute teachers, bus drivers or cafeteria workers, Gov. Roy Cooper announced Wednesday.
For the past week, thousands of students in Wake County had to find different transportation as school bus routes did not have drivers at several schools.
“It is critical that we keep children learning in the classroom safely,” Cooper said in an emailed statement. “This policy will encourage state employees to lend a helping hand to our students at a time of severe staffing challenges for our public schools,” he said.
For students, that means your substitute teacher, bus driver or cafeteria staff might be a government worker from a different field.
For schools, it means staffing shortages due to COVID-19 sick leave, quarantine or isolation time could be addressed by state workers helping out.
But staffing shortages at state agencies could complicate the plan, said Ardis Watkins, executive director of the State Employees Association of North Carolina.
“This isn’t the first time a North Carolina governor has called upon the state workforce to step up in a crisis,” Watkins told The N&O in a statement. “Unfortunately, staffing shortages at two of the largest departments [Department of Public Safety and Department of Health and Human Services] are so severe we are not sure how many employees will be able to take him up on his offer.”
More on the leave policy
Here’s what it means for state employees:
▪ Full-time state employees have 24 hours of paid community service leave every calendar year.
▪ State employees will need approval from their supervisors to use the time as a substitute teacher, bus driver or cafeteria worker.
▪ Workers also keep money they earn as substitutes.
▪ State employees may also use the community service leave for training for one of the K-12 substitute roles.
▪ Being paid for the community service time and training time as a substitute are two temporary exemptions to the policy, according to a letter from the chief deputy of the Office of State Human Resources.
▪ The policy is effective immediately, and ends Feb. 15.
State Human Resources Director Barbara Gibson said in a news release: “State employees always step up to help our state in challenging times and this policy gives our talented employees yet another way to serve their communities.”
Guilford County Schools Superintendent Sharon Contreras called it “one more tool we can use to keep our classrooms and schools open for our students.”
A year ago, Wake County Public School System, which is the largest school system in the state, increased pay for substitute teachers during the COVID-19 pandemic, The News & Observer previously reported. In October, Johnston County also increased substitute teacher pay, The N&O reported.
Wake County schools increased starting pay for substitute teachers to $115 a day earlier this month for those without teaching certifications. Certified teachers earn $130 a day as a substitute in Wake.
The governor’s office has a full list of school system substitute information online.
For more North Carolina government and politics news, listen to the Under the Dome politics podcast from The News & Observer and the NC Insider. You can find it at link.chtbl.com/underthedomenc or wherever you get your podcasts.
This story was originally published January 12, 2022 at 3:28 PM.
.jpg)