With the omicron variant depleting school staffs as it sweeps across the country, some states are resorting to increasingly creative measures to find the substitute teachers needed to keep schools open, in one case even calling on the National Guard.
State workers can now serve as substitute teachers in some hard-hit districts, while other states are loosening rules to speed up the hiring of substitutes or draw retirees back into the classroom.
In New Mexico, where new cases have more than tripled over the past two weeks, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has asked the National Guard and state workers to fill in as substitute teachers.
"Our schools are a critical source of stability for kids -- we know they learn better in the classroom and thrive among their peers," Lujan Grisham said in a news release. "The state stands ready to help keep kids in the classroom, parents able to go to work and teachers able to fully focus on the critical work they do every single day."
Under New Mexico's initiative, National Guard members and state workers must become licensed as substitute teachers or child care workers and fulfill the usual requirements for substitute teachers, such as background checks and a teaching workshop.
In recent weeks, about 60 school districts and charter schools in New Mexico have moved to remote learning, and 75 child care centers have partially or completely closed because of staffing shortages, state officials said.
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According to Burbio, a data company that has tracked how schools are responding to the pandemic, for the past five school days an average of 3,631 of the 98,000 public schools have been disrupted each day, a relatively low figure.
Staff shortages at schools have been a primary concern for government officials, who worry about how a third year of instability will affect students. And teachers are not the only school employees in short supply.
The National Guard has also been a crucial resource for other states.
In September, Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker made 250 National Guard personnel available to drive school buses. Montgomery County Public Schools in Maryland asked for similar assistance last week.
In Oklahoma, Gov. Kevin Stitt issued an executive order on Tuesday which allows state agencies to let their workers serve as substitute teachers without affecting their regular job, pay or benefits.
"I've said from the beginning that our students deserve an in-person education and our schools need to stay open," Stitt said. "The state has a responsibility to do what we can to help make that happen."
In California, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an executive order last week that loosened rules for substitute teachers, citing the omicron surge. Set to run through March, the order speeds up hiring for qualified short-term substitutes, lets current substitutes have their assignments extended, and makes it easier for retired teachers to return.
In North Carolina, legislators gave districts federal funding to cover signing bonuses to help ease a shortage of cafeteria workers.
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Superintendents in Texas and Michigan have asked parents to volunteer as substitutes. In Vermont, school board members have filled in as custodial workers, and in Georgia, a school principal has been helping out in the cafeteria. In Delaware, a charter school offered to pay parents $700 to take their children to school and pick them up at the end of the day.
Keeping schools open during the omicron wave has become a fiercely debated issue nationally, especially among parents. President Joe Biden was asked about school closings at a White House news conference on Wednesday, and he was quick to point out that most schools were open.
"Let's put it in perspective: 95%, as high as 98%, of the schools in America are open, functioning and capable of doing the job," Biden said, adding that he encouraged states and school districts to use funding to keep schools open.
Information for this article was contributed by Jesus Jimenez of The New York Times and by Jaclyn Peiser of The Washington Post.
Gallery: Coronavirus scenes, 1-20-2022
