Some Johnson County school districts continue to bounce back from pandemic-induced substitute teacher shortages.

According to an article from The New York Times, a shortage in substitute teachers has impacted schools of all sizes across the U.S. since the COVID-19 pandemic. Officials from three Johnson County community school districts said they have experienced a lack of substitute teachers as well.

Nick Proud, the chief human resource officer for the Iowa City Community School District, said the district was struggling with having enough substitute teachers for the past few years. Now, the district is seeing a return to pre-pandemic conditions, he said.

At the height of the pandemic, around 10 percent of ICCSD’s 1,300 teachers would be absent from school, and it was a struggle to get those roles filled with substitutes, Proud said. Currently, the district has a 96 percent fill rate for substitute teachers, he said.

“That number is pretty outrageous, honestly. I mean, that’s fantastic that we’re at that kind of point,” Proud said. “So that’s just something that we’re pretty proud of.”

One way that ICCSD has addressed its substitute teacher struggles is through pay rates. For example, if a substitute teacher comes in for 11 consecutive full days, their pay rate is increased from $150 per day to $230 per day, Proud said.

Retired teachers from the district and substitutes who have filled in for the district 20 times in one year also receive higher pay, with a rate of $170 for a full day, Proud said.

Solon Community School District, which is located about 20 minutes north of Iowa City, said it also experienced shortages of substitute teachers in the years following the pandemic.

Natalie Johnson, the business services manager for the district, said the district used to ask substitutes to come in every day during the pandemic, which is not a norm for the school. This was then stopped in 2021, she said.

The Solon Community School District has 115 teachers, and the current fill rate for substitute teachers is 86 percent, which is around a 20-point increase from the 2021-22 school year, Johnson said.

Johnson said the way Solon bounced back from this shortage was by always advertising for substitute teachers in the community. Pay rates for substitute teachers have also increased in the district over the past couple of years, with the current rate being $140 per day and a little over $185 per day for substitutes that work 10 consecutive days, she said.

Lone Tree Community School District, which is located about 20 minutes south of Iowa City, also reported a substitute teacher shortage since the pandemic that they are still dealing with. Tyler Hotz, the superintendent for the district, said the shortage has gotten so bad principals sometimes have to fill in for classes.

Hotz said much of Lone Tree’s substitute teacher force is made up of retired teachers from the district.

“We have some consistent people that have retired from Lone Tree that will commit to being substitutes here,” Hotz said. “We value those staff members tremendously, and they do fill in when they can. Some have kind of come back more this year than they did last year.”

Lone Tree has 40 total teachers working for the district and does not keep track of its fill rate for substitute teachers, Hotz said.

RELATED: Bipartisan teacher pay bump passes in Iowa House

The district is working on trying to combat its substitute teacher shortage, Hotz said. Lone Tree has been looking at changing its pay rates as well as hiring a full-time substitute teacher, he said. None of these changes have been implemented and are just discussions within the school board for right now, he said.

The current pay rate for substitute teachers in the Lone Tree Community School District is $130 per day and $140 per day if a substitute works for 10 consecutive days, Hotz said.