Guest teacher service proposed amid Lee County teacher shortage

Reporter: Jolena Esperto Writer: Matias Abril
Published: Updated:
lee county
(CREDIT: Lee County School District)

It’s no secret Lee County has a teacher shortage.

On Wednesday, the school district will talk about looking to Kelly Services– a third-party staffing company that helps find temporary workers– to fill the empty spots.

The estimated cost is over $8 million.

There are 202 teachers missing from Lee County Schools right now, and that doesn’t include the need for substitute teachers.

“It’s going to help maybe the teachers that are there already subbing for those classrooms not getting a planning period because that’s every day, especially when I was in there. It was almost about every other day,” said Stacey Sawyer, former Lee County teacher.

This is because Lee County only has a 57% fill rate for absent teachers.

Kelly Services South Region Vice President Cheryl Kourier said what Kelly Services wants to do is not only help fill the gaps for teachers but also for students.

“For the time that a student is in K through 12, they spend one full year with a substitute teacher,” Kourier said. “That’s how many times that they will spend, so the work is important, and it’s important for us to continue to educate while those teachers [are] out.”

The following Lee County Schools workshop meeting is on Wednesday. The proposal to partner with Kelly Services will be presented to the board then.

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