By Mircka G, Celiang H, Christina N (Staff Writer)
Coming back from winter break was difficult for both Galileo students and teachers with the surge of the Omicron variant, which is more contagious than the last COVID variant. Unfortunately Galileo strongly felt Omicron’s impact within the school, as many teachers had to miss school for a number of days because they were in isolation because they tested positive or were near someone who tested positive.
According to the administrative assistant, Ms. Grinnell, as a result of so many teachers calling in sick, there ended up being a major substitute shortage. With subs being in such high demand there wasn’t enough to cover all classes. She said, “The highest number of substitutes at Galileo in the last two months was 19.”
As a result of the teacher shortage, the San Francisco School District had been sending in people from their central office to help cover for the loss. Galileo also asked teachers who weren’t sick to help cover some classes during their prep-period in order to make sure all classes could be covered. Teachers who helped were paid for their extra time.
Classes who did not have subs were sent to the auditorium. Referring to the classes that ended up in the auditorium, administrative assistant, Ms. Grinnell said, “Attendance was taken and students worked on Google Classroom in order to complete assignments. This happened more than once throughout January but as of February it has not happened again.”
Thankfully the Omicron surge has died down at Galileo as the amount of teachers calling in sick has been declining for some time now. This has made it easier for science teachers like Ms.Stollemeyers, who is now less stressed about school. She said, “It [The lack of subs] made it hard for me to leave because I knew my class would not be covered. I also had to cover other classes, which was stressful because it made it difficult to grade. However, the situation has gotten better due to the decline in sick teachers and Ms.Stollmeyer added that,“now I’m not scared to take a day off”.
