With the Covid-19 pandemic, there have been a lot of challenges — worrying about online schooling, keeping up with the do’s-and-don’ts of daily life. And for some staff, this is a time of chaos. 

With teachers having to take time off from teaching for various reasons and our normal substitute teachers not being able to come in because of safety concerns, there is a shortage of available substitute teachers. 

Substitute teacher coordinator Sharon Broussard bears the brunt of the difficulty in finding subs.

“This year has been horrible. We used to be able to rely on teachers that had retired to come in and help if we needed a substitute, but with Covid, they have stopped coming for safety reasons,” Broussard said. “We had teachers that got Covid. Then we had teachers that had been quarantined, then we had the teachers that had to stay home with their children when they went remote.”

“This means that we needed a lot more substitute teachers this year than we had any other year. It’s been very difficult to deal with, but with the support of everyone in the school, it has been manageable. I mean, we’re just all in it together. It’s very stressful, but teachers stepping up and teaching during their plan period has made it all run a bit smoother.”