January 2022 Omicron variant causes wave in COVID-19 cases
TOTAL ABSENCES
Comal ISD
New Braunfels ISD
Important dates
7,000
Over the last two years, schools have seen teacher absences surge as local COVID-19 cases rose. In January 2022, Comal and New Braunfels ISDs saw a marked rise in absences, due in part to the uptick in local coronavirus cases and subsequent quarantine periods. ABSENCES WAVES OF
August 2020 Both NBISD and CISD return to in- person instruction
March 2020 Schools transition to online learning
March 2021 Mask mandates lifted statewide
6,000
5,000
4,000
3,000
2,000
1,000
0
SCHOOL YEAR
SOURCES: COMAL ISD, NEW BRAUNFELS ISD/ COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER
2019-20
2020-21
2021-22
Shrinking retention rates In addition to short-term staffing issues, districts across the state have been hemorrhaging teachers and struggling to replace them as part of a long-term, national pattern. Public school advocacy group Raise Your Hand Texas recently released its 2021 Texas Teacher Workforce Report, which showed that teachers are least likely to be retained from year one of teaching to year two. The study followed a cohort of teachers who began their career in the 2010-11 school year. Between the first and second years, 12.5% of teachers did not return to the profession, and by the 2019-20 school year, 50.2% of that original cohort had left. “The trends show that we were having a difficult time attracting and retaining teachers evenprior toCOVID- 19, especially in high-need areas,” said Bob Popinski, senior director of policy for Raise Your Hand Texas. A recent survey conducted by the Charles Butt Foundation, a sister orga- nization of Raise Your Hand Texas, found that 68% of Texas teachers sur- veyed considered leaving the profes- sion in 2021, compared to 58% in 2020. In mid-February, NBISD had 10 teacher vacancies while CISD had 39, and current teachers had spent an average of seven years or 5.3 years with their district, respectively. “There has been an increase in our attrition rate of people leaving the profession, especially leaving the profession within a couple of years of starting,” said Kate Fraser, a middle school teacher at CISDs Danville Mid- dle School. “All of those teachers in the middle, that like eight to 15 years of experience, we’ve lost them and
From August 2021 to January 2022, NBISD recorded 7,785 absences among staff who require a substitute, such as teachers and other educational per- sonnel, compared to 5,099 absences from August 2020-January 2021. In CISD, officials reported a total of 17,312 absences requiring a fill during the first six months of the school year, compared to 10,750 during the same period the previous school year. When a substitute or other staff member cannot be found to cover an absence, the position goes unfilled, driving down the fill rate, or percent- age of absences requiring a fill that were staffed. “We did have a couple of weeks in January where our curriculum depart- ment stepped in and helped campuses who were looking at, you know, the 70%or 60%fill rate,” said Bobbi Supak, assistant superintendent of human resources at CISD. The district is onboarding between 15 and 20 new substitute teachers
each week, she said, and officials have been working to shorten the process to become a substitute teacher. Additionally, CISD created “super sub” positions during the 2020-21 school year to provide more consistent support on campuses. “Those are substitutes that are com- mitted to a campus, so a campus can have anywhere from two to four ‘super subs,’ and that has really helped fill in those vacancies,” Supak said. In the event that a substitute cannot be found, some students have joined other classrooms, or other teachers will take on classes during their plan- ning period, Dubay said. So far, neither district has had to cancel classes altogether, but short- ages in other areas have caused disrup- tions to other school services. Both districts have experienced bus driver shortages, and CISD reduced the number of routes operating within the district due to lack of available drivers. NBISD has not reported route cancel- lations, but officials shared that the district had 25 bus driver vacancies in early February. Though Trumble understands that shortages are largely outside the dis- trict’s control, she said that lack of campus-specific communication on the issue is concerning. “I was a little surprised that they haven’t said anything to us about our schools on an individual level,” she said. “I don’t want my kids to have some huge deficit somewhere that you won’t know about until you know, we’re too far down the line to do anything about it.” Human resources personnel for NBISD declined to comment for this story.
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couple weeks, and it was so difficult on everybody,” Dubay said. “There’s times we don’t get staff filled, and we don’t have enough people inmy class- room or enough adults for the kids. … There [are] times our vice principal has been in my room to try to help.” Spiking unfilled absences Andria Trumble, whose children are enrolled at NBISD, said she was not fully aware of local substitute short- ages until her daughter shared that she had beenmoved to the school gym several times for combined classes if not enough substitutes were available. “This has happened quite a few times when a teacher has been out,” Trumble said. Recent data from CISD and NBISD shows unfilled absences increased from 24% in CISD and 11% in NBISD in January 2020 to 34% in both districts in January 2022.
DIMINISHING RETENTION According to the Charles Butt Foundation, the percentage of teachers who considered leaving the profession rose by 10% between 2020 and 2021. Statewide, districts reported vacant teaching positions during the 2021-22 school year.
TOTAL VACANCIES
FOR TEACHING POSITIONS IN FEB. 2022: CISD
58% 68%
39
OF TEACHERS
considered leaving the profession in 2021
NBISD vacancies
OF TEACHERS
considered leaving the profession in 2020
10
SOURCES: CHARLES BUTT FOUNDATION, COMAL ISD, NEW BRAUNFELS ISD, TEXAS EDUCATION AGENCY/COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER
vacancies
30
COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER • COMMUNITYIMPACT.COM
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