School districts in the county hope to have found a solution to the ongoing challenge of finding substitutes and filling teacher absences. During its March meeting the Warren County R-III School …
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School districts in the county hope to have found a solution to the ongoing challenge of finding substitutes and filling teacher absences.During its March meeting the Warren County R-III School Board heard a presentation from Penmac Staffing, which serves as a contractor for substitute services.Penmac has 11 districts in the state that use its services, with most of those located in southwest Missouri. Troy is the only local district using the service, having begun in March.Assistant Superintendent Aaron Jones anticipates the district will make a decision about whether to use Penmac during the April or May board meetings.“We’re looking at this service for next year, and we wanted to give the board a chance to hear about how it works,” said Jones.The district fills 75 to 80 percent of its teaching absences with substitutes. The remaining open positions have to be filled by full-time teachers during their plan periods at a rate of $25 per hour.Penmac averages a substitute placement rate of 98 to 99 percent. Jones says this could greatly reduce the amount of time spent by administrators and secretarial staff who try to find substitutes at the last minute.“Hopefully if we’re able to fill that with the substitute, there will be a cost savings there, but it also allows that teacher to have their plan time back,” said Jones.Districts essentially contract out their substitute services to Penmac, which recruits and trains substitutes, providing professional development. An emphasis is placed on retired teachers, who are limited to 550 hours in any school system when hired by the district but have fewer limitations when working for Penmac. They also have the opportunity to earn benefits.“They have the opportunity to work full time to be on their insurance,” said Jones. “They have some substitute teachers who work for the company in the summertime in other capacities.”Jones says the district has tried several measures to entice substitutes and alleviate problems, but most fixes have been only temporary.“We put an incentive in recently and that helped a little bit as we saw an increase in interest, but we’re kind of right back where we were,” said Jones.School news
