Ohio’s substitute teachers worried about finding work as many schools plan for remote learning
19 Investigates helped one sub who was still waiting for unemployment checks.
CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) - People in one job you may not have thought about is facing new struggles amid the pandemic.
Many substitute teachers likely thought they would be in high demand this fall if some teachers decided not to return, or if they were out sick more often.
But, now that many schools are returning completely online subs could be out of work even longer.
After a long career in the furniture business, Lateek Shabazz said he has been a substitute teacher for the Cleveland Metroplitan School District going on eight years.
“I have a good relationship with kids, and they need mature men that are street smart,” he said. “They need people like me. The kids do.”
But this year, he’s worried he may not get to help many kids if any at all.
“I’m waiting to see. It’s all up in the air,” he said.
He says what usually happens at the end of the school year in June, happened in March this year.
“Yeah I’m laid off,” he said.
Now, many schools plan to at least start the year completely online.
We reached out to several Northeast Ohio Districts, asking whether they will use their substitutes as extra hands this year.
Solon Schools responded, saying they have continued recruiting subs this summer for the upcoming year.
In an email, a spokesperson for the district said, “We do anticipate needing substitutes during remote learning, just as we would during a regular school year. We are not using a canned virtual educational program and our Solon teachers will be teaching their students through live stream and connections within Google Classroom. Therefore, if a teacher is ill, for example, we would need a substitute for the day for that virtual classroom. "
Shabazz is hoping Cleveland Schools hire their subs back to provide supplemental tutoring.
He says it’d be worth a potential risk to his health, if it helps kids keep up online.
Though he’s focused on helping kids this month, Shabazz originally called 19 News last month for help himself.
“I’ve got no money coming in and your prospect for a job is like ... you can’t go out in public,” he said.
He was hoping to be back working in schools soon, but he hasn’t heard whether he’ll be needed this school year yet. And, he had yet to receive any money from unemployment.
“It just keeps saying pending, pending, pending,” he said.
19 News intervened and confirmed Shabazz was eligible for PUA.
We got the pending issue resolved for him. He says he began getting payments last week.
The problem is that starting this week, those payments are going to be $600 less than they were with the funding that just expired in the Cares Act.
For him and other substitute teachers, that’s tough, knowing they may not get called back to work after all.
Copyright 2020 WOIO. All rights reserved.
