The fact that Kane County is not seeing a surge of COVID-19 cases like it did a few months ago is helping St. Charles Community Unit School District 303 make sure it has enough substitute teachers to meet its needs.

“The challenges we were having with subs in October and November have gotten a lot better,” Mark Moore, the district’s superintendent of leadership and administrative services, told School Board members at the School Board’s Business Services Committee meeting on Monday. “COVID, as you know, was really bad in late October and November and it’s gotten much better, so fewer people are absent now, fewer people are in quarantine and we’ve been able to fill the positions.”

Dist. 303 pays substitute teachers $100 for a full day when serving in a position that requires licensure. Batavia School District pays $95, while Geneva and Kaneland school districts also pay $100 for a full day.

“At this time, I don’t see the need to raise the substitute pay for the rest of the year because we are competitive with our neighbors,” Moore said.

Permanent substitutes were hired for each school this year. Starting this month, permanent substitutes are assigned through the end of the year.

“They commit to working every day at that school,” Moore said. ‘Now we’ve needed them, because there either has been somebody sick or on quarantine virtually every day at every site.”

Board member Ed McNally asked if buildings could share substitute teachers. Moore said that has happened.

“In the fall, some of our permanent subs were doing that on a ad-hoc basis,” Moore said.