Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/1419056
anticipate that the nurses would have to take care of students and attend IEPs." Teachers in San Lorenzo are concerned that siblings of exposed students who attend the same school are not sent home to quarantine. "e district said the positive case notification is 'confidential' and that teachers should not be talking to one another about the students and discovering if there are siblings," says Rosa. Delta surge creates virtual surge Due to safety concerns, increasing numbers of families have opted for online learning in existing or newly created virtual schools in their districts, which has presented challenges. Rosa in San Lorenzo says, "Large numbers of students have opted to enroll in independent study with remote learning. Thi s is unprec- ed ent ed , an d it i s d e cim atin g s om e sch o o l communities, causing classes collapsing, trans- fers and reassignments of teachers and students." Binning Chevlin of Murrieta says there has b e e n a l a rge r th a n e xp e c t e d e n ro l l m e n t i n virtual classrooms, resulting in a need to fill teaching spots. " Thi s h a s al s o i mp a c t e d th e v i r tu al sit e , because we have run out of classrooms and t each ers are required to share a ro om w ith another virtual teacher." Laura Finco, president of San Ramon Valley Education Association in Contra Costa County, says that as more students have moved to the dis- trict's virtual academy, it has been chaotic with "many more combination classes all around and collapsing classes." In Capistrano, few parents wanted to transfer their students from in-person to online learn- ing. "O ur di strict did a sur vey in summ er to find out exact numbers of students that would choose to stay online this year, and we were looking at ways to provide them an option, but it turned out that only 300 people out of 47,000 were interested," says Schnapper. Staffing shortages felt California has long had a teacher shortage, but the problem has worsened since the pandemic began. And a law requiring schools to provide independent study for quarantining students "I would describe the current school year as confusing and chaotic. The biggest challenges have been contact tracing and notifications when students test positive." —Kimberly Binning Chevlin, president of Murrieta Educators Association Maripaz Berlin, president of Oak Grove Educators Association. has increased staffing needs at many sites. "Not only has the number of teacher candi- dates declined during the pandemic, but the state also has seen an increase in the number of teachers retiring," reports EdSource. "Cal- ifornia school districts, already struggling to find enough teachers for classrooms, are facing a substitute shortage so severe that officials at smaller districts fear temporary school closures." Among those cited as suffering in EdSource's September report are rural districts located in Lake County, Nevada County and Tulare County. B erli n s ay s h er u rb a n S a n Jo s e di str i c t i s also impacted. " We are struggling with a lack of subs for certificated and classified staff. Our sub calls sometimes remain unfilled, and we end up using our TOSAs [teachers on special assignment] and administrators to sub in classes, thus overwork- ing them. Our classrooms are not being cleaned as often as we need them to be cleaned due to a custodian shortage. It's a year of putting out one fire and then heading to the next fire." Fresno Unified is frantic for subs and clerical workers, including bus drivers, nutrition services workers and office staff. "It's been a herculean effort to get substitutes to fill any vacancies," said FUSD communications officer Nikki Henry in an ABC News report. " We have unfilled vacancies every day." 31 O C T O B E R / N O V E M B E R 2 0 21