Principals covering classes. Teachers losing their prep periods. What was once an extreme rarity in public schools is now commonplace as the substitute teacher shortage hits never before seen levels across Pennsylvania.

“I think it’s fair to say we’re in crisis mode,” Palmerton Superintendent Dr. Jodi Frankelli said Tuesday night during a school board workshop.

In an effort to deal with the shortage, Palmerton is looking to fund temporary long-term substitute positions using Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief money.

Unlike a day-to-day substitute, who gets paid $120 per day, a long-term substitute would receive a regular salary and benefits. Frankelli estimated each long-term substitute would cost the district around $80,000 when you factor in salary and benefits.

“It costs us more, but I think this gives us our best chance at finding some substitute candidates,” she said. “We lost one person who was subbing for us because they could go sub somewhere else and get benefits. In a perfect world, we’d like to find one long-term sub for each building.”

Because they would be funded with one-time COVID-19 grant money, the positions would be short-term, likely eliminated after the 2023-24 school year.

“All of our principals can attest to the need for more staff,” Frankelli said. “Listening to a day in the life of trying to figure out staffing during COVID-19 really puts this in perspective.”

Director Audrey Larvey said the substitute shortage goes well beyond Pennsylvania schools. In Utah, she said, state employees are now allowed to take four days off so they can substitute in a classroom, drive a bus or work in a cafeteria.

“We have to try something,” Larvey said. “When there are no subs, it has really big impact on the rest of the staff and the students.”

In another effort to help, the district plans to allow college education majors with at least 90 semester hours to substitute at the elementary or junior high school level.

“This is not something we have embarked on before, but we did have a couple from students outside of the district who were interested in subbing,” Jamie Schuler, assistant to the superintendent, said. “We initially didn’t go down that path, but we’re at a point where subs are such a necessity, we have to revisit the topic.”

According to Schuler, 90 semester hours would mean education majors would become eligible to sub after their junior year in college.

“This would be a locally issued certificate,” she added. “All normal clearances would be required and the district would have a brief induction program.”

The state has lifted a requirement through 2022-23 on the amount of days a student teacher could work as a substitute.

“We’ll be contacting our local universities letting them know this is something we are going to be offering.”