Absenteeism, substitute shortage, fleeing teachers: District taking steps to avoid repeat of last school year

The Lee County School District didn't have to wait long to spot a substitute teacher shortage coming last year.

Starting from the first day of school on Aug. 8, the district saw 115 teacher absences that month in which a part-time instructor couldn't be found.

Compare that to the first month of school the year before when that only happened 11 times and a pattern starts to emerge.

In September, there were 446 teacher absences without a sub, according to leave statistics maintained by the district.

In October, 513.

By November, the district was at a five-year high, topping out at 546 uncovered classrooms.

Lee County last year saw thousands of instances when a substitute teacher couldn't be brought in to cover for a teacher who was sick, on personal leave, or in some instances had never been hired in the first place.

Greg Adkins, executive director of human resources and employee relations for the district, said the months were the worst he's seen.

The problem, he said, is that there were never enough teachers to begin with.

The district had an instructional staff more than 4,700 strong at the beginning of the 2005-06 school year, yet still had dozens of vacancies.

Being short 50 teachers a day adds up, officials say, stretching a limited pool of subs between holding down those classrooms and covering for the thousands of times each month when full-time teachers have to be absent. That makes months like last March, when there were 326 times the district couldn't find a sub, seem reasonable. According to district statistics, there were 7,414 instructional absences that month, nearly 3,000 more than the year before.

If a lack of full-time teachers was the root of the problem, Adkins thinks having the right number on hand is likely the solution.

With seven weeks to go before school starts again, the district already has 361 contracts for new teachers signed, about three times the number it had last year.

Waiting in the wings are dozens more instructors. They're insulation, Adkins said, against the number of teachers each year who resign over the summer.

Getting the new teachers into the classroom is one thing. Keeping them there, especially at particular points in the year, poses yet another problem.

Absenteeism among Lee County instructional staff is at a seven-year high, rising from an average of 5.96 percent in 1999-2000 to 6.56 percent last school year.

That might not seem like much. But with hundreds of Lee County teachers being added every year, it translates to thousands of days of absences. Seven years ago, 35,399 absences were reported during the school year. By 2005-06, that number had grown to 54,466.

While Adkins said he'd be more comfortable with an absentee rate closer to 4 or 5 percent, Donna Mutzenard, president of the Teachers Association of Lee County, said teachers work in an environment with a heightened risk of illness.

Classrooms often are breeding grounds for germs, she said. At particular points of the year — like March, when stress from the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test culminates — some teachers' immune systems give in, she said.

That theory has merit, Adkins said.

Teachers are more likely to call in absent during March and before the winter holidays, he said. Student absences reflect a similar pattern.

According to the district, demand for subs peaked for the first half of the school year in November, when 6,161 teacher absences were reported.

When a substitute can't be found, the classroom doesn't just go unattended. Sometimes teachers on their planning periods are tapped to step in, something Mutzenard said instructors called her about with increased frequency last year.

John Traub, who heads up the Lee County Association of Professional Substitute Teachers, said part-time instructors complain of the same problem.

He's not convinced the substitute teacher situation will improve next year.

"It depends what they do with money," he said. "They're not so anxious to work for low salaries when they know that money is available."

The district has heard that argument before. Currently, substitutes make $62 to $92 per day, depending on their level or education.

Adkins said the county has seen sub crunches before. It has become more aggressive about recruiting subs, along with teachers, in response. Last school year the district relaxed educational requirements for temporary instructors, making it possible for some to step into the classroom with a high school diploma.

It isn't just Lee County that is struggling, Adkins said, pointing to pay increases several area counties have been boasting this summer as a way to draw more teachers to their door.

Whether that offer will be extended to part-time teachers hasn't been determined.

Traub said the union has yet to hear what the district will offer subs next year.