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Michigan Faces a Substitute Teacher Shortage

Classroom
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A school district in West Michigan closed for a week when too many staff called out sick.

Its superintendent says if he can’t find enough subs soon, more closures are likely in the winter.

The large number of staff out at Newaygo Public Schools made it impossible to find enough qualified subs.

Superintendent Jeff Wright says some subs the district used to count on aren’t ready to go into a school with 500 potentially unmasked or unvaccinated students.

“Their health circumstances, they become unavailable or want to make sure that are we further along through this covid process.”

Wright says it is difficult to recruit subs because it requires a number of credit hours... training and background checks.

He wants the legislature to make the process simpler for retired teachers.