Ontario BOE votes to continue flexible education requirements for substitutes

ONTARIO — Ontario Local Schools will continue hiring substitute teachers without a bachelor’s degree for the 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 school year as allowed under state law.

The Ontario board of education voted Tuesday night on a resolution instituting the temporary requirements for substitute teachers. These requirements include having a high school diploma or statement of high school equivalence, being deemed of good moral character and successfully completing a background check.

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Ohio required all substitute teachers to have a bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university. In response to a statewide lack of substitute teachers, the Ohio legislature has waived that requirement through the 2023-2024 school year.

Supt. Keith Strickler said the flexibility has been helpful amid nationwide teacher and substitute teacher shortages.

“We found out that we were able to pick up some really good substitute teachers last year,” he said. “It allows us to pick up some really quality people that have chosen to stay home with their families. Now that their kids are in school, they would like to get involved.”

Any substitute teaching candidate who does not have a bachelor’s degree is required to meet with one of Ontario’s building principals, who will review information on how to get a temporary substitute teaching license.

“It’s incredible how quickly you can get the license. The state has really helped us out a lot by making this pretty easy to do,” Strickler said.

The district has hired a full-time “floating” substitute for the middle school and hopes to find one for Stingel and the high school as well.

“Every day you’re going to need someone,” he said.

Ontario joins numerous area districts that have passed similar resolutions, including Lucas, Madison and Lexington. Mansfield City and Plymouth Shiloh will allow substitute teachers with an associate’s degree.

Assistant superintendent Mike Ream briefed the board on upcoming safety drills. A staff-only training will take place on Sept. 22 at the the middle school and high school in cooperation with the Ontario Police Department.

Ream said OPD will be firing blanks so that staff members learn to recognize how shoots fired would sound in a school building. OPD will also demonstrate to clear hallways in the event of an emergency evacuation.

The goal is that teachers come away from the training able to recognize the sound of gunshots, better prepared to handle the stress of an active shooter situation and with a better understanding of how police would respond.

A full-scale drill will take place the following week on Oct. 6 at both Stingel Elementary and the middle and high school building. Both schools will practice locking down and evacuating students.

Blanks will not be used during the student drill. A police officer will be posing as the “intruder” in each building, but Ream said the officer will not scream, make loud noises or otherwise attempt to scare students.

He described the staff-only training as more intense and adding that parents have the option of keeping their child home if they do not want them to participate in the drill.

“Most of the feedback I’ve gotten from parents is very positive,” he said.

Strickler said safety is a top priority for the district.

“We meet every single week and we talk about safety. We have meetings with every single building,” he said.

“Whether it was a drill or whether it was an actual event, we’re prepared.”

He added that teachers and staff support students’ social and emotional wellbeing during drills by offering clear, calm explanations.

“If you were ever here and you watched us do a drill, you would hear our principals on the PA, they don’t just lock the doors, they teach,” he said. “They teach and they go over it — ‘This is why we’re doing this.’ Everything’s very calm. The teachers then do the same thing.”

The board also approved: