Bartlesville Public Schools Looking For Substitutes To Prepare For COVID-19 Impact

Bartlesville Public School leaders say they’re looking for more substitute teachers to prepare for the impact COVID-19 could have on its staffing levels.

District leaders say they’re close to the number of substitutes they had this time last year but with COVID and the upcoming cold and flu season, they want to have more subs ready to go.

Superintendent Chuck McCauley says the background check process is taking longer because each candidate has to schedule an appointment with the sheriffs office to get fingerprints done and the wait for an appointment might be up to 10 days.

McCauley says a lack of substitutes and teachers in general will play a big part if the district ever needs to consider distance learning.

“I really think that’s going to be the prevailing factor. If we don’t have the staff where we can safely have school, that would be a cause to shift to distance learning mode,” said Supt. McCauley. 

The district says if there’s not enough substitutes they’d consider other options, like pulling other teachers to cover those classes or combining classes.

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