After Stitt executive order, over 100 Oklahoma state employees volunteer to substitute teach

More than 120 state employees have volunteered to substitute in public schools, only a day after Gov. Kevin Stitt authorized them to cover classes.

The governor issued an emergency order Tuesday allowing Oklahoma’s 32,000 agency employees to substitute teach in schools while earning their regular pay and benefits.

The state Office of Management and Enterprise Services confirmed 123 employees of various state agencies registered by Wednesday afternoon.

Now those state employees must wait for their required background checks to be completed before they enter the classroom.

Oklahoma Education Secretary Ryan Walters said state employees living in 40 different school districts offered to volunteer.

“We want to continue to ask folks to go sub in their schools if they can,” Walters said. “I’m not surprised that Oklahomans have answered the call when they’re needed.”

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Finding substitutes is always a challenge for schools, he said. It became even more so during the pandemic.

More than half of Oklahoma’s 540 school districts and charter schools closed because of COVID-caused staff shortages in the first two weeks of January, according to tracking by StateImpact Oklahoma.

Oklahoma City Public Schools closed districtwide for two days last week. Although most of its schools are now open, the district says substitutes are still a dire need.

Fourteen state employees will be made available to Oklahoma City schools, adding to the 75 substitutes already at the district’s disposal, said Brad Herzer, assistant superintendent of human resources, safety and security.

Eight state employees were scheduled to undergo background checks with the district on Wednesday.

What is the background check process for substitute teachers?

All public-school substitutes must provide fingerprints and undergo a background check. State employees who already cleared a criminal history check for their agency jobs have to do so again before substituting in a school, said Brook Arbeitman, public information officer for the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation.

Background checks with hardcopy fingerprints take 14 days to complete, Arbeitman said. Electronic fingerprints speed up the process to 48 hours.

OKCPS Superintendent Sean McDaniel said substitutes don't equate to the quality of a certified teacher. But, they make a difference when teacher absences are painfully high.

“We’re grateful for the help,” McDaniel said. “All this is to us is it’s expanding our substitute pool, which is what we need. We need more people to substitute in Oklahoma City Public Schools.”

The district is uniquely positioned in a hub of state agencies based in the Oklahoma City metro area, with plenty of state staffers around to volunteer.

But 85 miles away in southwest Oklahoma, Lawton Public Schools hasn’t heard of any state employees available to help, Superintendent Kevin Hime said.

The Lawton school district was 100 teachers short on Wednesday, and Hime doubted state employees who live in the area would have free time to fill in.

“I can’t imagine that anybody would have anyone to spare,” Hime said. “We brag on efficiency of government, and all of a sudden we think that people can spend 40% of their time to come sub.”

Walters said state agency employees have volunteered from a variety of rural, suburban and urban areas. With their names collected in a database, the education secretary is tasked with connecting those employees with a nearby school district in need.

Even without substitute teaching, a community can keep schools open by limiting the spread of COVID-19, McDaniel said.

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Oklahoma City schools require mask wearing, filter school air and enforce quarantines – all strategies to mitigate viral spread. However, the district can’t control how people operate outside of school.

Oklahoma City’s four major health systems urged Oklahomans this week to help slow the surge of new infections by wearing masks, avoiding indoor gatherings and getting vaccinated against COVID-19.

“The behaviors of our folks outside of the school district have a direct correlation to whether we can keep our doors open,” McDaniel said. “We are doing everything we know to do inside.”

Reporter Nuria Martinez-Keel covers K-12 and higher education throughout the state of Oklahoma. Have a story idea for Nuria? She can be reached at nmartinez-keel@oklahoman.com or on Twitter at @NuriaMKeel. Support Nuria’s work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Over 100 state employees volunteer to substitute at Oklahoma schools