Much like many of its contemporaries, Northern Lehigh School District is experiencing a shortage of substitute teachers.

Tim Weaber, president of the Northern Lehigh Education Association, addressed the matter with the school board last week.

Weaber, a technology instructor at Slatington Elementary School, thanked the administration for mentioning May 2-6 was National Teachers Appreciation Week.

“I can only speak for myself right now, but being a Northern Lehigh graduate, living in the school district, it’s an honor and privilege to work in this district as a teacher,” Weaber said. “For me, there’s no higher honor than to work with children and see their growth, and see their successes, and I want to thank you for that privilege and honor that all of us teachers that work here experience.”

Weaber said when he was interviewed over 27 years ago for a teaching position in the district, “The superintendent at that time said that over the course of my career in the district, the district would invest over $1 million into me, and I’m sure that in over 27 years, that number has gone up.”

He added, “The teachers in this district are a great investment for this district, and it’s very important that we make sure that we take care of that investment.”

Weaber then shared results from a survey by Teachers Pay Teachers in February.

He said 62% of teachers report that there is a teacher shortage in their schools.

“Right now we are staffed, and we appreciate that,” he said. “But one of the things we’re seeing is a lack of substitutes, and if you talk to any superintendent throughout the state of Pennsylvania, I think they’d probably tell you the same thing; that they’re seeing teacher shortages.”

Weaber said they don’t have student teachers anymore because the institutions around them are reducing what they’re doing.

“We’re losing teachers,” he said. “We don’t have teachers coming through the ranks anymore, and that’s scary; it’s only going to get worse.”

Weaber said the survey shows 68% of teachers are saying that student behaviors are worse than pre-pandemic.

“And I know we’re working on doing many different things to try to improve that, but that does add a stress to the teachers as we try to work with that,” he said. “And there’s many reasons for that happening.”

Weaber said 48% of the teachers surveyed didn’t feel valued as professionals.

“I’m only telling you that because I think we need to remember that, and try to continue to encourage all our professionals; get into the classrooms, get into what they’re doing, find out what they’re doing, so that they feel that you’re there.”

Weaber said the survey reveals 48% of teachers are considering a job-related change.

“That’s scary, because we don’t have teachers to replace them,” he said. “So we need to do all we can to try to keep those teachers that we have, those investments that are going to cost us over $1 million over the course of a career.”

Weaber said that teachers in the survey reported there is a teacher shortage, with 43% feeling that because of the lack of substitutes, that there is an increased demand on those teachers.

“I’d really like to challenge this school board and administration to do all you can to find substitutes,” he said. “Do something; hire a service, something, and also see what demands we can reduce on the teachers, because their load is heavy, and if you walk around and talk to the teachers you’ll see that, because it’s been a tough year.”