CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (CLARKSVILLENOW) – In his update to the Clarksville City Council, CMCSS Director Millard House stressed the need for more substitute teachers due to COVID-19 related absences.
According to House’s report on Thursday, 166 Clarksville-Montgomery County teachers are currently at home on Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) leave.
As of House’s report, there have been a total 964 CMCSS employees sent home on FFCRA leave.
Substitutes needed
House specifically noted the need for more substitute teachers.
On Friday, CMCSS had 113 teacher absences and was able to fill about 70% of those vacancies, leaving, on average, 48 classrooms without a sub.
“We currently have approximately 600 quarantined students and employees. As you can imagine, this presents a challenge as it is difficult to bring on the number of substitute teachers that we need. We also currently have 53 active cases within the Montgomery County School System right now. As I mentioned earlier, substitute teachers are hard to come by,” said House.
In order to help recruitment, House said that substitutes recently received a $2 rate increase.
The school system is currently accepting applications for substitute teachers through their website.
COVID sends schools online
Two CMCSS middle school have had to transition to online learning due to COVID-19 cases. According to House, the majority of attendance issues have involved middle schools.
For the week of Oct. 19, Rossview Middle School temporarily transitioned to online learning due to a large number of positive cases. Last week, New Providence Middle School was also moved online.
“New Providence has climbed in COVID cases, and not only will they be remote this week. They will be remote next week as well.”
CMCSS recent sent out an online form today for parents to make the decision between traditional and virtual schooling for the spring semester.
For updates on COVID-19 as it relates to CMCSS, visit the dashboard on their website.