Leechburg schools changing schedules due to COVID-19, substitute teacher shortage

PITTSBURGH — Officials with the Leechburg School District are changing class schedules due to COVID-19 and a substitute teacher shortage.

According to an email that was sent to district parents, the school board voted to have students and staff report to school for in-person classes four days per week with one day being virtual schooling. Starting Monday through Nov. 13, students and staff will report to school Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday with Wednesday being reserved for virtual learning. District leaders said this will allow cleaning crews to spend the day Wednesday deep cleaning and sanitizing buildings and classrooms.

Has something like this happened in your child’s district? We want to hear from you! Contact Sarafina James HERE and we’ll look into it.

They pointed to data from the Pennsylvania Department of Education and Pennsylvania Department of Health as partial reasons why the change is happening. The district spans both Westmoreland and Armstrong counties. The state’s standards are that a district that spans more than one county must use the COVID-19 data from the county that is being hit hardest by the virus. The state considers any amount of COVID-19 cases above 100 per 100,000 residents as “substantial.” That has been the case in Westmoreland County where there has been an incident rate of 124.1 per 100,000 residents. Armstrong County also is not far behind at 99.6 out of 100,000 residents.

Both the Department of Health and Department of Education recommend that, when a county reaches that level, schools should switch to an entirely virtual model. Leechburg school leaders said they do not want to go that route, however, because there has been an extremely low number of cases in school and in their area.

District officials also pointed to a shortage of substitute teachers that is affecting the district. In the email to parents, officials said in part, “We can’t run a school without the proper amount of teachers.”

The school board is set to meet again on Nov. 11 to discuss the most recent COVID-19 and teacher data and will decide to continue this model or revert back to having students in class full time.

How to become a substitute teacher in Pennsylvania:

Typically, the State Department of Health requires potential substitute teachers to have the following:

• Valid Pennsylvania educator certificate or out of state certificate
• Bachelor’s degree (or foreign equivalency) if not certified
• Background clearances
• U.S. citizen or permanent resident alien status (green card)

If someone does not have proper certification but does have a bachelor’s degree, a public school can still hire that person by requesting an emergency permit.

Private schools also hire substitute teachers but may have different requirements. Interested candidates should contact each school directly.

Western Pennsylvania’s largest school district, Pittsburgh Public Schools, prioritizes hiring substitutes with Pennsylvania certification but will also hire subs without certification.

If you’re interested in becoming a substitute teacher, try PA-Educator.net which is a website started by the Allegheny Intermediate Unit to assist in searching and applying for education jobs across Pennsylvania. The site service more than 200 schools.

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