|
 State employees and Guard members who take up the call to teach will
get their usual pay and be considered on administrative leave or
active duty, respectively, according to Governor Michelle Lujan
Grisham.
National Guard members have mobilized across the United States to
help hospitals and clinics slammed by staff shortages but New Mexico
appeared to be the first state to ask them to become classroom
teachers.
Some 60 schools in New Mexico have gone into remote learning since
the winter break and 75 child daycare centers partially or
completely closed as staff tested positive for COVID-19 or
quarantined, according to a statement from the governor.
"We've heard from multiple districts that a lack of substitute
teachers is among the most critical staffing issues right now," New
Mexico Public Education Secretary Kurt Steinhaus said in a
statement.
Under the staffing plan, schools will decide whether National Guard
members wear uniform or civilian clothes. The reservists will be
unarmed.
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 Guard members and state
employees will undergo background checks and an
online teacher training course before being sent
into schools.
"It's just a vehicle to make sure schools can
stay open," Lujan Grisham said at a press
conference outside Santa Fe High School, which
is operating remotely due to a lack of
substitute teachers.
 The pandemic has exacerbated teacher shortages
in poorer U.S. states like New Mexico and
neighboring Oklahoma, which on Tuesday appealed
to state employees to work as classroom
substitutes.
Wealthier states are also scrambling to keep
schools open, with California streamlining its
substitute teacher hiring process and Kansas
opening up substitute positions to people with
no college education.
(Reporting by Andrew Hay in Taos, New Mexico;
Editing by Rosalba O'Brien)
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