Over the course of the 2015-2016 school year, FHS students have dealt with constant movement between planning periods and study halls whenever their teacher is absent and a substitute teacher is unavailable to take his or her place.
There are currently six to eight substitute teachers assigned to Freedom Area School District through Kelly Educational Staffing. Each short-term substitute teacher is paid $85 per day, and the District pays $119 to Kelly Educational Staffing. In the event that a class is sent to a high school teacher’s planning period, he or she is compensated by the district for $25 per block covered.
“I believe that my classes get the same amount of work done, whether there’s a day-to-day substitute, or another teacher covering the class. I always try to leave plans for the students, and I have actually found other teachers to be diligent about giving the students their work and watching that they complete it,” English and performing arts teacher, Mrs. Heather Giammaria said.
Rather than hiring substitute teachers as district staff, Freedom uses Kelly Educational Staffing, which is the “largest provider of substitute teachers nationwide” according to the business’s website. Aliquippa, Beaver, Blackhawk, Central Valley, Ellwood, Hopewell, New Brighton, Riverside, Rochester and Western Beaver, as well as over 6,175 schools in 35 states, use this staffing system.
When a teacher knows they will be absent in advance due to illness or bereavement, they go online or call Kelly Educational Staffing. After the absence is processed, any substitute teachers who are registered with the district are contacted to cover that teacher’s classes.
Outside of FASD, other Beaver County school districts are facing a similar problem. Whether or not substitute teachers are hired through the district, like Beaver Falls and South Side, or through Kelly Educational Staffing, some classes are unable to be covered by a substitute teacher. Therefore, teachers cover those classes during planning periods and are compensated by their school district.
Depending on the contract between the school district and the staffing system, other Beaver County schools pay Kelly Educational Staffing $112 or $119 per substitute per day, and each short-term substitute receives $80 or $85 of that payment.

Short-term substitute teachers would receive the same payment at Beaver, Beaver Falls or South Side. Since no representatives from Ambridge, Aliquippa, Blackhawk, Rochester or Western Beaver commented on their substitute teachers’ payment, their data is not represented in these values.
“From the principals’ meetings that I’ve attended, we all kind of complained that it’s an issue that there’s always a shortage of subs. We never quite have what we need to cover the buildings,” FHS Principal William Deal said. “It’s one of the perennial issues that we all face.”
The National Education Association, which states that the substitute shortage is a national issue, claims that a lower pay is one of the reasons for the shortage. According to Bureau of Labor Statistics data from 2015, high school teachers received a median pay of $57,200 whereas elementary or secondary substitute teachers received $29,960.
“I do think that the relatively low pay is an issue. It’s too easy for potential subs to work elsewhere and make more than they would as a substitute teacher,” Deal said.