Some Tulsa Parents Offer To Become Substitutes To Keep Classes In-Person

As the Tulsa Public Schools superintendent hopes to return to in-person learning by the end of the month, some parents are offering to fill a giant need: substitute teaching.

A substitute teacher shortage has forced several districts to go to distance learning.

TPS said they have only a quarter of the substitutes they have during a normal year, and parents who are ready for their kids to get back in class say they're signing up to help.

For Rachel Bausili and her five children, virtual learning is a full-time job.

"It's been like whiplash," Bausili said. "Are we going to go back, are we not going to go back?"

Rachel has kids in pre-K up to 7th grade, and four at Tulsa Public Schools, where most students have been learning virtually for almost a year.

Earlier this week, TPS Superintendent Deborah Gist said she wants kids to be back in classrooms by the end of this month now that COVID-19 numbers are going down.

"We need to be back in-person and we need to be able to stay there," Gist said.

Districts like Broken Arrow and Union had to return to distance learning this week because they have so few substitute teachers as staff quarantine.

Bausili said she and other parents are now applying to become TPS substitutes so the district can stay in person.

"If you can get off work here and there to make it work, that's the only way we're going to get through this hard part of life," Bausili said.

Gist said many of their substitute teachers are usually retired and are at a higher risk, so she hopes people will step up to help.

"We want to encourage more and more people to rise together and be a part of this," Gist said.

Bausili said she'll do whatever it takes to get her kids back to the classroom, something she said they're desperate to do.

"Everyone has to do what they can," said Bausili.

To apply to be a Tulsa Public Schools substitute, visit the website here.