Announcements are often made in the morning requesting for teachers to fill in sub positions.

According to director of human resources Richard Kreyer, finding substitute teachers is becoming increasingly difficult.

In order to find competent subs, the district placed ads in newspapers, increased pay and recruited other relief teachers.

Kreyer said while the district’s number of eligible substitutes increased from 240 to 260 in the past year, other districts experienced a dramatic decrease.

“When I meet with other HR directors from other districts they’re seeing the same thing. One last year had about 400 subs on their system, and this year it’s less than 200,” Kreyer said.

Kreyer believes the lack of available subs is because of the addition of teachers in many districts and the rising economy. In order to recruit more substitutes, the district advertised in the Sun Sailor and the Star Tribune, posted jobs on the district’s website, and increased the daily wage for substitute teachers.

“I recommended an increase in the pay for subs, from $110 a day to $115 a day for full day subs,” Kreyer said. “We kind of raised the rate to encourage [subs] to spend more time substituting at St. Louis Park.”

Freshman Ellery Deschamps said while students cannot learn as much from a substitute compared to their normal teacher, it is still important to have proficient subs.

“It’s important to have a good sub so that the classroom doesn’t get too crazy or out of hand and that you can still learn even without your teacher,” Deschamps said.

Deschamps also said substitutes bring a different learning environment to students.

According to Kreyer, the need for adequate substitute teachers in the district can impact students ability to learn.

“We want students to be taught by the best teacher that we can get for that class and we think the best teacher is going to be the regular teacher,” Kreyer said. “But if the regular teacher can’t be there that day, then we want a competent, trained substitute that we know had been effective.”