PEORIA, Ill. – It’s being held right in the Peoria Public School District’s back yard; but, a big conference going on won’t have any District 150 representation.
The Illinois Music Education Association Conference continues through the weekend at the Peoria Civic Center, and the Peoria Federation of Teachers and others have taken to social media to claim that district music educations can’t go, because the union claims, the district can’t get substitute teachers.
Others have accused the district of not wanting to find subs.
But, in a statement to WMBD, the district says the problem is there are currently more teacher absences than there are available substitutes, more than ten each day.
District 150’s full statement:
“It isn’t about finding substitutes; it is about the difference for number of substitutes we need daily and the number we have available. Every day this entire year we have had more teacher absences than substitutes, the unfilled absences have been more than 10 each day. Due to this situation, we have limited optional professional development because currently we have teachers needing to cover classes during their prep period, double students up and other creative ways to try to find the least disruptive strategy for students. PPS teachers have multiple opportunities for professional development when substitutes are not necessary such as institute, school improvement days, after school and during the summer. “
