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By
NICK GOSNELL
Hutch
Post
HUTCHINSON,
Kan. —&nbsp;Rick Kraus, Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources for Hutchinson USD 308 says its too early to tell if the increase in compensation for substitute teachers in the district has helped get more applicants."We've picked up a few subs each year," Kraus said. "It has not overcome the challenge that many of our substitutes, no matter how much their desire is to continue to work for us, their own age and perhaps health issues have prevented them from returning to the classroom, at least to start the school year."With that in mind, Kraus reminds applicants, they don't have to be done with their degree to help."We are still seeking people that have at least 60 college hours, which is the minimum required by the Kansas State Department of Education to earn an emergency substitute teacher license," Kraus said. "More help is needed. It would be wonderful to have a pool of subs available for each building to keep that consistent, but the reality is, we just don't have enough to get that taken care of."Teachers care about their kids and want to be at work, but Kraus cautions that the calculus of when to come to school and when to stay home may be different this time around."Teachers traditionally man up and try to just power through not feeling well, even though they may have a symptom or two," Kraus said. "This is one of those years where I don't think we can ask them to do that, just because of the potential of someone having the virus and coming to school and infecting, perhaps, several others. I think it's one of those years where, it kind of goes against a teacher's nature to just sit back and let the symptoms subside, because they know they need their kids and their kids need them."The USD 308 school board recently approved $110 a day in pay for substitutes in the district.

Kraus: Subs still hard to come by