Substitutes Called Upon Regularly

Marge Griffin spent the past week working at Bentonville’s Ardis Ann Middle School, where she was substituting for a fifth-grade social studies teacher.

Griffin, a Bentonville resident in her 10th year working as a substitute teacher, said the school had shortages of substitutes three out of the five days this week.

“That’s the first time in years I’ve seen that happen,” Griffin said.

Keeping schools fully staffed, especially in the middle of flu season, can be a challenge for some school districts.

The Bentonville School District needed 117 substitute teachers Friday. It came up eight short, said Galen Havner, district human resources director.

Teachers at the junior high school and high school level will help fill those teacher gaps during prep times, Havner said. Special education teachers or aides might help out at the elementary and middle school levels.

Havner said Bentonville has 800 teachers in the district and a pool of 215 substitute teachers.

“A lot of those 215 subs also sub for Rogers and Springdale and the smaller schools around the area, so they are not exclusive for us,” he said.

It’s not unusual for the district to run into a shortage of substitutes during the flu season, he said.

“No matter how many you can get in the pool you just can’t keep up with it,” Havner said. He said the district has 20 more substitutes it plans to train next week.

Substitute teaching isn’t for everyone, but Griffin said she enjoys it.

“I love the kids,” she said. “I like subbing because I like being some place different and not doing the same thing every day. I sub kindergarten through 12, so I could be in kindergarten one day and the high school another day.”

Rogers School District had 86 substitutes working and was short 15 on Monday, said Roger Hill, assistant superintendent for human resources. On Friday the district was 10 substitutes short.

Monday and Friday tend to be the most popular for using personal days, Hill said.

The number of teachers out for family or personal illnesses climbed toward the end of the week, from 38 on Monday to 56 on Friday.

Rogers works with a list of about 300 substitutes, but many of those same teachers work in other districts, Hill said.

Flu and subsequent teacher shortages have caused some school districts — including the one in Westville, Okla., just west of Washington County — to close.

“It does not appear that we’re at the critical level they are,” Hill said.

In Springdale, about 200 substitute teachers were needed Friday, according to substitute coordinator Vanessa Sbanotto. All but seven of those positions were filled.

A typical day sees between 100 and 130 substitutes working in Springdale. Sbanotto said the district has needed as many as 250 to 300 in one day.

Springdale has a pool of 605 substitutes to call upon when needed, Sbanotto said.

The Fayetteville School District isn’t experiencing any above-average number of absences because of the flu or flu-like symptoms and isn’t having any problem filling in for absent teachers, said Alan Wilbourn, district spokesman.

One possible reason is Fayetteville’s attention to cleanliness. Custodians are wiping down all surfaces with disinfectant after school every day to help prevent the spread of germs, Wilbourn said.

Teresa Moss, Amye Buckley, Rose Ann Pearce and Dave Perozek contributed to this report.

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