Members of the community looking for ways to support teachers and students have a unique opportunity this year to pitch in where it counts: the classroom.
Canyons’ raft of certified substitute teachers is larger for the 2020-2021 school year than ever before, but the demand for substitutes is higher than ever before, too. While in-school trainings — which previously required substitutes to fill in at school so teachers could attend during class time — have been suspended this year, teachers still require substitutes for medical reasons, such as maternity leave or surgery. With COVID-related health and safety precautions, many teachers, out of abundance of caution, also are having to stay home with a sore throat, a cough or the sniffles.
“We are maxing out every day,” said Sally Sansom, Canyons District Human Resources Administrator. “We are having over 100 requests per day for substitutes, and we typically, in most years, have about a 97 percent fill rate, and right now we’re averaging in the 80s.”
Canyons has several kinds of substitutes, ranging from those who have a teachers’ license, such as retired teachers, to regular and emergency substitutes. The pay ranges from $90-129 per day, depending on credentials. This year, despite having nearly 400 substitutes in its pool, Canyons is looking for members in the community who would consider working as an emergency substitute to step in and fill in the gaps. Even non-teacher employees in the District have signed up as emergency substitutes to fill in in a pinch.
“What person doesn’t like to go into a job and realize, if I wasn’t there today, there would be a big void — my taking on this job filled a huge hole that was there in the school, and I really made a difference?” Sansom asks. “If there are ways we can help our schools, our communities, and we are looking for ways to do that, subbing is a great thing to do.”
Sansom shared more information on why substitute teachers are so sorely needed this school year on Canyons’ most recent edition of the Connect Canyons podcast. Listeners can tune in to be encouraged — and maybe inspired — to be a hero, lend a hand, and make a difference.
