Florida is facing a substitute teacher shortage due to the COVID-19 pandemic. | Canva
Florida is facing a substitute teacher shortage due to the COVID-19 pandemic. | Canva
Teachers in Florida who may need to have the day off to tend to personal business or illness have found it difficult to find last-minute replacements because of a COVID-19 related shortage.
The shortage affects all of the Sunshine State, not just Jacksonville and the rest of Duval County, News4Jax reported.
“We have a shortage everywhere in the Duval County school system like they do all over the state, and we have a shortage of teachers, paraprofessionals bookkeepers, custodial workers, bus drivers,” Terrie Brady, President of the Duval County Teachers United, the district’s teachers union, told the station.
The difficulty with finding or even maintaining a roster of available substitute teachers is tied to the spike of coronavirus cases associated with the delta variant.
Brady told News4Jax that the company her district uses brought in an additional 100 teachers.
The shortage caused the Tampa-St. Petersburg area county of Pinellas to declare an emergency with more than 180 teachers out with COVID-19 or in quarantine, BayNews9 reported.
Pinellas County Schools, which is already struggling to fill 100 unfilled positions, could turn to its non-teaching staff at its Largo administration building as a last resort, but won’t compel any staff to take any jobs they aren't comfortable with, BayNews9 reported.
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