One Challenge To Reopening Schools: Finding Enough 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.”

Read the rest of this story at WBUR’s website.