With COVID staffing crunch, who’s going to teach the kids?

In this photo provided by the Hays Consolidated Independent School District, Brian McKinney, right, who has children in the Hays Consolidated Independent School District, in Kyle, Texas, teaches a class at Johnson High School, in Buda, Texas, Thursday, Jan. 27, 2022. McKinney, a small business owner and former teacher, is among parents the district has hired to work as substitute teachers during a staffing crunch. He returned to the classroom after about 15 years away. (Moses Leos III/Hays Consolidated Independent School District via AP) In this photo provided by the Hays Consolidated Independent School District, Brian McKinney, right, who has children in the Hays Consolidated Independent School District, in Kyle, Texas, teaches a class at Johnson High School, in Buda, Texas, Thursday, Jan. 27, 2022. McKinney, a small business owner and former teacher, is among parents the district has hired to work as substitute teachers during a staffing crunch. He returned to the classroom after about 15 years away. (Moses Leos III/Hays Consolidated Independent School District via AP)

By CAROLYN THOMPSON / Associated Press February 3, 2022 5 min read

With teacher absences mounting and substitutes in short supply, parents may be wondering: Who’s teaching the kids?

The answer around the U.S. could be a local police officer, National Guard soldier, state budget analyst, parent or recent high school graduate – nearly anyone willing to help keep schools’ doors open through the omicron-driven staffing crunch.

States have been loosening teaching requirements to give schools more flexibility on hiring as coronavirus exposures, illness and quarantines add to strains on schools that also have been tapping librarians, custodians and support staff to help cover classrooms during the pandemic.

Brian McKinney, a parent with students in second and 10th grade in Hays County, Texas, spent part of this week as a substitute, helping sixth graders through a social studies assignment that had them writing essays about the Soviet Union. A former teacher, he decided he could help as he waited out a cold snap that has slowed business at the World War II-themed miniature golf course he and his wife now own.

“There was no down time today; I was heavily involved with the kids,” he said after school Tuesday.