The state of New Mexico is turning to the National Guard to fill in as substitute teachers in public schools amid a nationwide teacher shortage and coronavirus-related quarantines.
Close to 100 National Guard troops will be deployed to work as substitute teachers in the state’s public schools in a bid to stave off remote instruction due to staff shortages.
The troops being deployed are all volunteers, Military.com reported Wednesday, and are required to undergo the same vetting process, including background checks, that regular substitute teachers undergo.
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The use of National Guard troops as substitute teachers is part of an initiative by New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham to address teacher shortages in the state. The governor herself worked as a substitute kindergarten teacher this week.
In a press release last week, the governor touted the plan as essential to keeping children in school, saying “the state stands ready to help keep kids in the classroom, parents able to go to work and teachers able to fully focus on the critical work they do every single day in educating the next generation.”
More than a third of the state’s 146 school districts have switched to remote instruction, Military.com reported. The governor’s press release said the remote classes were due to staffing shortages.
“Currently, many schools are being forced to shift to online learning and child care facilities are being forced to temporarily close when staff members test positive for COVID-19 or are identified as close contacts and must isolate or quarantine for 5 days,” the press release said. “The goal of the state’s effort is to ensure these establishments have the staffing resources to temporarily fill in during these gaps.”
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The omicron wave of the coronavirus has exacerbated a nationwide shortage of teachers as already short-staffed schools have had to grapple with infected teachers forced to quarantine, leaving schools with no replacement teachers.
