Warrenton High School closed in-person classes for the week, and other area schools are facing a challenge when it comes to keeping classes in session, due to a shortage of staff when quarantines are imposed.

That predicament has forced the full transition of classes at Warrenton High School into the virtual model. The Warren County R-III School District announced on Tuesday afternoon that all high school classes will be conducted virtually through Oct. 2. Plans are to return to the building with the seated model on Oct. 6.

“The main issue right now is having enough personnel to fill the classroom when teachers are required to quarantine,” said Warren County R-III Superintendent Dr. Gregg Klinginsmith. “At the high school we just had some contact tracing that’s put some people out. We’re monitoring to make sure we have enough teachers and substitutes to operate the buildings.”

Typically, substitutes would fill the roles of absent teachers, but there is currently a statewide scarcity of those willing or able to step into temporary teaching positions.

Changes in contact tracing protocol may intensify the impact of COVID-19 on district staff, as one must now quarantine if they were within six feet of a positively tested individual for 15 cumulative minutes, rather than the 15 consecutive minute criteria previously used.

“The greater risk of us experiencing a building or district shutdown is a large quarantine of our staff,” said Wright City R-II Superintendent Dr. Chris Berger. “I think the threat is pretty universal.”

Both districts use Penmac as the contracted provider for substitutes. In past years filling teacher absences has proven fairly easy and reliable, with a large candidate pool.

“Penmac has indicated they are down about 50 percent in availability,” said Berger. “Last year we had around 60 people to draw from and now that’s around 35 substitutes.”

The provider highlighted its challenges in a statement to Berger.

“Penmac Education Staffing has increased spending for recruitment, and is currently budgeting more to increase substitute pools than it ever has. Unfortunately, not only are we not seeing an increase in applicants, but we are seeing fewer candidates than usual.”

According to Berger, one factor is that districts often rely heavily on retired educators as consistent substitutes. Given the current circumstances and health risks involved with COVID-19 and potentially vulnerable immune systems, that has changed significantly.

“Prior to this 75 percent of the substitute pool was retired teachers, and thats the age demographic that is more cautious, and rightfully so,” said Berger. “Those are the folks who have decided to play it safe and take off during this time.”

In response to the increased need for substitute teachers, qualifications for those positions have been considerably lessened. Previously it was required to have 60 hours of college credit, but one now must simply have a high school diploma and complete a 20-hour online course to be qualified as a substitute.

“If you ever wanted to be a teacher, it’s a good opportunity to try out,” said Klinginsmith. “You just need to spend a couple days in training, and you’ll be all set. If someone wanted to just work an extra day every week or two, that’s totally fine. Class sizes are really small right now with many kids going virtual, so it’s a really good time to be a sub.”

The need is particularly strong at the middle school and high school levels, where students have different teachers for each subject. In the elementary schools, if a COVID-19 positive case were to occur within a classroom, that entire class would transition to virtual.

“In some cases, even if a teacher tests positive, they may feel well enough to continue teaching virtually,” said Klinginsmith. “That really just depends upon each individual case.”

Berger added that as of Tuesday, just 1,270 substitutes had taken the certification training across the entire state. That averages out to just over two per each district in Missouri, further indicating the desperate need for new substitutes.

Penmac will be hosting a job fair for potential substitutes at the Warren County R-III Central Office on Oct. 12 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. In addition, it will also be holding hiring events every other Monday through April.