With early retirement incentives, COVID-19, massive career changes and people leaving the education field, many people wonder if there are enough staff and teachers to fully open schools successfully.

Dr. Mark Potter is the superintendent of the Liverpool Central School District. He is looking forward to bringing his students and his staff back next week. There are 1,300 employees working in the district. But are there staffing challenges to get back to class?

“The state standards and, you know, Common Core and some of the old buzz words, really played a little bit of a significant role and really kind of pushing people out of the profession or pushing people out of New York state," Potter said.

He added that Liverpool Central School District is in great shape despite having 80 open jobs earlier this year. Now there are only a few openings. He said specialized instruction like speech, occupational therapy others is harder to find talent.

"Family consumer science has always been a challenge for many years, simply because there’s not many colleges that have that as a major," Potter said. "However, we’ve got our positions. We had two positions here open and we filled both positions. So again, I’m feeling quite confident with where we’re at."

Liverpool has added 12 brand new positions, funded by a portion of the $17 million received from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act and the American Rescue Plan.

"We’re spending a significant amount of money on people," Potter said. "Meaning we’re addressing shortcomings in learning or learning loss. To help with whatever we need to do, whether it’s coaching, mentoring or actually, you know, contact with students, really tries to address some of the engagement issues or lack of engagement over the last year.”

Dr. Potter can still use support and new candidates.

“We’re always looking at additional subs," he said. "We also encourage our retirees to call the sub service if they’re interested in serving and many of them do."

Another school district echoes that plea for subs. Superintendent Tom Colabufo has been able to add a daily substitute teacher for each of his buildings in the Central Square School District.

“On any given day, there is always going to be a teacher that is out sick," Colabufo said. "Or out at a workshop, so the fact that we can have consistency and the kids can see the same substitute and we’re guaranteeing them to work every day. We’re hurting for substitute teachers and I think that most districts are. The drivers are key. So if we have drivers that have to be quarantined or what not, it will become extremely difficult to keep in-person learning going. The same is to be said about teachers. So if we have a teacher that is sick. Whether it’s COVID or not, we need to have substitutes.”

Colabufo leads 640 employees in his district. In addition to needing substitutes, he still has about 15 open positions. Positions he has been able to fill are coming from some people making career or life changes.

“I know a lot of people that have decided to become teaching assistants, friends of mine. Schools we offer very competitive salaries and benefits," Colabufo said.

And to those looking for a job, Colabufo encourages to "look at your local school district. Because like us, I know a lot of people in my neighborhood that love the opportunity to do a three-hour shift, to work in foodservice. It’s a great opportunity for people.”

That kind of support all helps get students back in class.