NEW BRAUNFELS, Texas — The opportunity to make money and leave an impact is one that some area school districts are providing right now for those who want to be substitute teachers. The need is different this year with some educators out of classrooms due to quarantine protocols during the ongoing pandemic.
Born and raised in New Braunfels, Jeannette Yue taught for 15 years in California.
After retirement, she returned to her roots.
“I love kids and I miss being able to see that light go off in their eyes when I taught them,” Yue said. “So I decided, let me just go back to where I know. I went to New Braunfels Independent School District.”
This year, the drill was different.
Yue has taught in person and conducted remote-learning classes. She said remote-learning was a new challenge, but an important one to overcome for the success of her students.
“(The district will) do anything they can to make your day successful,” Yue said. “You've got that support and it is not as difficult as you think it is.”
Just a few weeks ago, Yue stepped in at Seele Elementary school and covered a 5th grade class while the teacher was in quarantine.
One of the students, Oscar Terrazas, says he’s glad she was there so he wouldn’t miss a beat.
“I think it's really important because that's preparing us for life and what we're going to do for work,” Oscar said.
The 5th grader wants to own his own restaurant one day. As the head chef, he’ll be using a lot of math.
“Lots of fractions,” Terrazas said. “There’s a lot of math in cooking.”
On average, New Braunfels ISD books about 55 substitute teachers per day. But the district needs more people to apply. The schedule is flexible and you don’t have to have a degree to get started.
“If you're a substitute teacher here in New Braunfels or anywhere in the country, we appreciate you,” said NBISD Spokesperson Rebecca Villarreal. “We're just glad that you're here to help us and educating students every day and making sure they have a good, safe learning environment.”
Oscar said he hopes more people in his community step up to ensure there are enough subs to carry the district through the school year.
“Thank you for helping out our teachers, our schools and all the kids,” he added.
The school district for Cibolo, Schertz and Universal City is also hiring substitutes. Some of their hires will be guaranteed work assignments every day.