Substitute teachers, bus drivers help keep education on track

Jan. 21—FORT GIBSON — Fort Gibson High School softball coach Joe Obregon makes sure Intermediate Elementary students take their seats before starting the school bus.

He said he's been a substitute route bus driver for several years, but this year, he's driving more.

"We've all found ourselves with multiple hats to wear," Obregon said.

Area schools have reported more staff and faculty absences during the recent surge in COVID-19 cases, prompted by the omicron variant.

Muskogee Public Schools Human Resources Director Bradley G. Eddy said he has seen an increase.

"I can say with certainty that we have received documentation for more employee COVID cases since we returned from winter break than we had in August through December," Eddy said. "We had nearly 60 adult cases for the first 19 weeks and we have so far had nearly 100 documented cases since Jan. 1, and these continue to come in daily."

He said COVID has hit every school and every department in the district.

"Every day, support members have stepped up all year to fill in where needed and where possible, especially substituting," Eddy said. "Unfortunately, they, too, are getting sick and having to be isolated."

Eddy said bus driving is a unique situation, because employees must have a commercial driver's license (CDL).

"Early on in the year, when planning for bus driver shortages, we reviewed the entire employee population to plan with everyone who legally held a CDL," he said. "We spoke to those who could drive a bus and planned with them accordingly."

Administrators drive buses at smaller districts.

Hilldale Superintendent Erik Puckett said he is a back-up bus driver, and Assistant Superintendent Chad Kirkhart has a regular bus route.

Fort Gibson Schools Superintendent Scott Farmer said four FG administrators, including himself, and most coaches have their commercial drivers' licenses.

"We've all just taken turns and jumped on a bus when we needed to, just to get the gaps filled," he said.

Farmer said that out of 250 employees, the district has had 18 to 20 out per day "as COVID has moved through the school."

Area districts also have had to rely on the staff and community to substitute for absent teachers.

"We've had substitutes in the community come in and sub for us," Farmer said. "We've had teachers covering for other teachers on planning periods."

On Tuesday, Gov. Kevin Stitt issued an executive order allowing state employees to substitute teach during their regular work hours. Participants must undergo a background check to substitute.

Puckett said Hilldale has been able to find a few more people, including retired teachers, to substitute teach. He said he is not seeking employees of other state agencies.

"We have not got people to come sub per the governor's proclamation," he said. "That's not happening. Those people have their own jobs they need to be doing."

Puckett said the district conducts a background check on anyone wanting to substitute teach.

"That could take anywhere from one day to five days to get those results back," he said. "We have a sub handbook and some sub rules we give to them at our training at the start of the year. If they come in mid-year, there's really not a lot of training. Our principals, our staff and our secretaries try to help them through the day. Our teachers leave sub folders that have assignments and roll sheets to help get them through the day. Substituting is a real difficult job. You're not just supposed to be there to babysit kids. We're trying to actually continue the education of that child for that day. And that's a tough thing."

Farmer said Fort Gibson's substitute policy involves training and a background check.

"It takes a little bit of time to get that accomplished," he said. "They come into the office and we have a chance to sit with them. We have an 'on boarding' packet that involves different elements of training and conversation. It's an interview process. Then we submit a background check to the OSBI (Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation). We expect a clean background check before someone enters the classroom."

People wanting to substitute at Muskogee Public Schools must be high school graduates, pass a background check and complete orientation, Eddy said.

"Experience working with children is extremely helpful, but we can help those completely new to the scenario," he said. "We screen our substitutes much in the same way that we screen for our other student-facing roles. We complete our reference checks and each substitute must undergo an FBI, OSBI, and local background checks."

Eddy said MPS is working to improve training for substitutes and has more than tripled engagement time with substitutes this year.