Pueblo West High School moves to remote learning due to substitute teacher shortage

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO)-- On Thursday, students at Pueblo West High School were learning online instead of in classrooms because there aren't enough substitutes to fill in for teachers and staff that are out.

"As schools are open and people are going back to work is that we’re just running short on substitute teachers, substitute administrators, secretaries, people who can fill in," said Todd Seip the District 70 PIO.

Seip says in the past school years, they've usually had almost 300 substitutes to pull from. This year, there are just 100 and that pool is too small to pull from when they need between 50 and 60 subs a day right now.

"We do have some teachers out sick. We’ve got some teachers who with this being there’s a lot of regional and state sporting events happening, a lot of those teachers are coaches traveling with those teams, and then we do have some positive COVID cases amongst staff, so it’s a combination of all those things," said Seip.

Besides looking for subs, D70 currently has 51 open positions.

"[We have openings for] substitute athletic coaches, secretaries to food service workers, the bus drivers. It really works well if someone is looking for a day job, a job where their kid is in school and they want to work the same time it works out well for them," said Seip.

The reason for the vacancies comes down to a number of factors.

"It could be a combination of the economy. It could be a combination of COVID. It could be a combination of people just wanting to wait and see how the restrictions and guidelines play out in schools as well," said Seip.

The district is also encouraging teachers to get their booster shots, but the district is seeing breakthrough cases among staff members.

Pueblo West will be back in school on Monday. They operate on a four-day-a-week schedule, so Friday won't be affected.