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Where have all the substitutes gone? With pandemic protocols and low pay, fewer Philly-area educators are taking the risk.

“To see this level of demand so early — the word unprecedented is overused, but it really is unprecedented,” says one Kelly Education Services executive.

Carole Hoy, principal of Gulph Elementary School in the Upper Merion School District, says a lack of available substitute teachers means she must sometimes divide up classes to split them between available teachers, or pull specialist teachers to cover them, creating a ripple effect. Educators across the country and around the region say an unprecedented substitute shortage is taxing.
Carole Hoy, principal of Gulph Elementary School in the Upper Merion School District, says a lack of available substitute teachers means she must sometimes divide up classes to split them between available teachers, or pull specialist teachers to cover them, creating a ripple effect. Educators across the country and around the region say an unprecedented substitute shortage is taxing.Read moreSTEVEN M. FALK / Staff Photographer