SPOKANE, Wash. — Spokane teachers are stretched thin as Spokane Public Schools (SPS) struggles with staffing shortages due to COVID-19. For the past month, school administrators are frantically strategizing where to move teachers and students.
Stevens Elementary Principal Adrian Espindola said the school had 20 staff members out due to COVID-19 in mid-January.
“There are days, especially in the past few weeks, that have been pretty hectic, and our hair was on fire not knowing exactly what we’re going to do secure coverage in classrooms,” Espindola said.
As absences persist, administrators strategize on a whiteboard each morning to figure out how to fill the gaps.
“We end up listing all the teachers' names and who can provide coverage underneath," Espindola said. "And if we’re splitting up classrooms, do the same thing.”
Some days, teachers are put on a rotating schedule and can be assigned to cover a classroom for anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour.
“We hate to kind of do that," Espindola said. "Just because it means that there are sometimes eight to nine adults in front of one group of kids inside of a day.”
At times, students also get moved to a different class.
“A couple of weeks ago, I had a week where I had five different third graders from different classes in my room with me while their teachers were out," fourth-grade teacher Kacie Fincher said.
The lack of teachers has been overwhelming at times, according to Fincher, especially when it means no breaks or prep time.
“There was a couple of weeks where we weren’t getting preps at all," Fincher said. "So instead of having that time to prepare our own classrooms and getting ready for our own kids and learning, we had to do that outside of contract hours.”
When they can, administrators do try to give that time back by taking multiple classes outside for half an hour.
SPS said it is starting to see a slight decrease in teacher absences and is hopeful that the trend will continue.