Dr. Cade Brumley, Louisiana's Superintendent of Education, talks about the growing trend, particularly in Caddo Parish, in having parents fill-in as substitute teachers.

As KEEL recently reported, Caddo Parish schools are looking for parents with college degrees to be available as substitute teachers because of staffing shortages in the classroom because of COVID cases.

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In a KTAL TV report, Leisa Woolfolk, Caddo's Chief Human Resources Officer says that even with COVID, the goal is to keep things as normal as possible and an adult - teacher or not - in the classroom may be the answer.  “It’s a season where we are asking parents to help because we don’t want to close down schools. We want our students to have that day-to-day experience in the classrooms. Just takes commitment and willing spirit. Someone that likes children, likes working around children.”

So is parents in the classroom as subs a good or bad idea? "It can be good to have parental involvement in your school system," says Brumley, "I've had a number of people...talk to me about, 'We don't have enough subs. We need to solve the sub crisis.' And in fact, we don't have enough substitutes across the state of Louisiana."

Brumley then says that the problem of needing subs is just part of a larger difficulty. "We shouldn't be trying to solve the substitute problem," he says, We should be trying to solve the root cause, which is the need for teachers in the classroom to begin with to eliminate subs. Subs should come into play only if you have illness or some kind of event that prompts the teacher to be out.

"The longtime solution to improving education in our state is not, 'let's get additional substitute teachers,' it solving the root cause, which is making sure we have enough teachers and  making sure they're high quality."

So, what do you think? Are qualified parents or other adults filling in in the classrooms a good idea?

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