Trustees received an update at their Jan. 24 meeting from Director of Instructional Leadership Shiela Shiver and Director of Human Resources Gema Padgett.
On Jan. 18, the district recorded 200 new positive cases among students and 31 for staff members. A day later, on Jan. 19, the total number of active COVID-19 cases in the district reached 897, according to a presentation. This compares with the 77 active cases on Jan. 5, the first day of instruction after the holiday break, and 167 active cases a year ago on Jan. 19, 2021.
After the closure on Jan. 20-21, which was followed by the weekend, the number of new positive cases reported on Jan. 24 was 83 for students and seven for staff, officials said.
As of Jan. 25, there are a total of 538 active cases in the district, data showed.
The district is also experiencing a substitute teacher shortage, according to the presentation.
On Jan. 5, at the start of the term, 80 staff positions were vacant, and 53 of those were able to be filled by a substitute teacher. That comes out to a 66% fill rate. On Jan. 19, 164 positions were vacant, and 73 were filled by a substitute teacher, according to district data. That resulted in a 44% fill rate, the district reported.
The district is trying to improve the fill rates by recruiting more substitute teachers, Padgett said. District staff recently did an online orientation for members from 121 Community Church in Grapevine as well as some local firefighters who were interested in becoming substitute teachers, Padgett said.
The district recently received over 90 substitute applications, compared to previously, when they would receive only one or two a week, sometimes less, Padgett said.
