Local school districts are running thin on substitute teachers and staff to fill in for illnesses and time away, and the rush is on to reinforce before flu season hits.

Cascade Technology Alliance, which provides substitutes for 36 school districts across seven northwest Oregon counties, including Clatsop, is trying to build a corps of reserves before flu season hits.

Steffanie Frost, the substitute services coordinator for Cascade Technology Alliance, said, out of about 3,000 substitutes the alliance has in reserve, about 5 percent are sometimes available to work on the North Coast.

An urban-rural divide comes into play.

Frost said the Yamhill-Carlton School District, less than 50 miles from the center of Portland and comparable in size to Astoria, has more than 200 substitutes, about twice as many as Astoria. Astoria Superintendent Craig Hoppes said the district has 25 to 30 substitutes working at any given time.

“People are willing to drive 45 minutes,” Frost said of the commute in the Portland metro area. “It seems like an hour’s the mark” where candidates question commuting to a district. The cost-benefit analysis becomes even tighter for classified substitutes working in food service, janitorial and other lower-paying positions.

Frost said budget shortfalls several years ago led to record layoffs of staff and fewer aspiring teachers. Add to that teachers retiring because the state made changes in the Public Employees Retirement System, and districts find themselves short on full-time teachers and the sort of young, entry level teaching candidates who jump at substitute positions as a way to get their feet in the door.

“In my opinion, there are not enough people with active teaching licenses,” Frost said, adding there are many retirees who are not wanting to substitute anymore or are highly selective in their assignments. Retirees with PERS account are also limited to 1,040 hours of work a year, a part-time position.

In response, she said, the Teachers Standards and Practices Commission has loosened restrictions on the restricted substitute teaching license, which allows people with a bachelor’s degree but no teaching license to substitute in any school district or educational service district. Candidates must pass a civil rights and ethics exam, background checks and be sponsored by a district.

Much of the need is in support positions, Frost said, with Warrenton-Hammond School District in particular need of backup educational assistants.

“The smaller the district, the harder it is to find the classified subs,” Frost said, adding the requirements to work in janitorial, food services and other positions are minimal.

Cascade Technology Alliance holds registrations weekly. To learn more, call 866-373-4321 or visit http://subservices.cascadetech.org