CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Many parents have asked on social media if substitute teachers are trained and investigated before teaching their children.
Because of the arrest of a substitute teacher this past weekend, 3NEWS wanted to answer parents concerns about the people who work with their children in our local schools.
Following the posting of the story on the substitute teacher, many parents responded with concerns about how substitutes are chosen.
One viewer said the following on one of our social media posts:
"We need to do a better job of background checks on the men and women that are working with our children," the viewer said.
The Corpus Christi American Federation of Teachers President Nancy Vera said that teachers on both the local and state level are carefully vetted.
"The school districts in this area, at least I know across the state that they are qualified. That they are vetted. That they have clean records. And that they are not addicted to drugs," she said.
Corpus Christi Indepdnet School District Director of Human Resources Debbie Cruz said substitutes can be as young as 18-years-old.
"All substitutes are required to have a minimum of a high school diploma or GED for substitute para-positions. For substitute teacher positions it's a minimum of 60 college hours," she said.
Cruz said that being in a teacher shortage has increased the demand for substitute teachers.
"We had a lot of losses due to COVID. During those couple of years we had experienced some resignations or retirements. Several of those employees have come back and are working for us part time," she said.
Vera said that even though substitutes are being hired at younger ages, it's important to bring them on board when they're in college.
"The school districts right now are desperately seeking teachers to fill the positions that are so needed in our school district," she said. "And see that's the problem, is that we need to nurture our new teachers by giving them more pay. Giving all teachers an increase in pay because that's what's keeping them."
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