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District 11 facing critical staffing shortage

School District 11 Colorado Springs
KRDO
School District 11 Colorado Springs

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- Earlier this week, Colorado Springs School District 11 alerted parents through a letter about the possibility of transitioning to remote learning because of a critical substitute teacher shortage.

Devra Ashby, Communications Director for D11, shared data with KRDO showing just how critical the need for substitute teachers is.

On Wednesday, D11’s fill rate stood at approximately 56.4 percent, that’s out of 346 total jobs with 77 requiring no sub, 118 positions filled, and 151 positions not filled. 

The issue to fill the substitute teacher positions is so critical that Wednesday night, the D11 Board of Education voted to increase the sub rates of pay for classroom subs from $115 per day, Monday through Thursday, to $180 per day. 

“This is the highest in the region and was passed because the Board recognizes the dramatic shortage of subs, increasing absences, and area competition for the same subs,” Ashby told KRDO.

According to school data, the majority of teacher absences reported to Human Resouces between Jan. 5 and Jan. 7 stemmed from sick leave. On Jan. 6, 83 teachers called out sick across the district.

Because of the staffing shortages, Ashby says there will be various school closures on Friday.

That includes:

  • Mann Middle School, which will be remote Friday due to 13 unfilled vacancies
  • TESLA EOP, which will be remote Friday
  • Holmes Middle School, which will be remote Friday

“With MLK day on Monday, this buys us a little more time to keep all other schools in person, but we are experiencing a very high volume of teacher and support staff absences,” Ashby said.

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Cindy Centofanti

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