The Unfortunate Reality of Teaching Post-Quarantine

By Nikki Crishen Evans

Growing up, it was always an event when we had a substitute in our class. Whether I was in elementary or high school, we would always be shocked when we showed up to class and there was a substitute teacher. Nowadays, since the return of face-to-face schooling post-quarantine, substitute teachers are needed by schools more than ever. Not only that, but the prevalence of long term substitute teaching has also been notable. 

I used to work in a  charter school where, unfortunately, the English class was taught by an uncredentialed educator. This was not unknown to the school administration, the parents, or even the students themselves. Despite this lack of training and certification, the educator did everything in their power to create an efficient and productive learning environment. They got assistance from the administration on which standards to teach, but were left on their own to figure out how to effectively administer said curriculum. For almost an entire school year, the 8th grade class and the educator  was forced to maneuver and adjust to the bare minimum of what was given. This was the unfortunate result of the lack of qualified teacher applications. The original teacher never even showed up for the first day of classes. 

Why might this be? I believe that the increase in substitute teacher usage is a tool used to fill the empty classrooms that teachers have left as a result of the pandemic. Additionally, this avoids the need to increase wages for full-time teachers that have stayed. Increasing wages for teachers would require more funding for our local school districts; and that would require higher taxes on wealthy individuals and their corporate counterparts exploiting the land they are servicing on, without paying their due diligence to the communities they are affecting.