Pinellas County Schools face ’emergency’ sub shortage
September 3, 2021 - After weeks of Pinellas County Schools advertising that they are looking to hire substitute teachers, reports have emerged that the situation is critical. According to a Bay News 9 report, Pinellas Classroom Teachers Association President Nancy Velardi called the shortage an “emergency.” Currently, over 180 teachers in Pinellas are out of the classroom due to Covid or are in quarantine protocol. The shortage comes after PCS had more than 1300 substitutes on hand to start the year. A separate report by Florida Politics stated that PCS will start pulling staff members from their offices to fill in as substitute teachers beginning Wednesday.