Times Observer photo by Brian Ferry All-County Musical leads Elizabeth Koebley and Logan Johnson perform Any Dream Will Do (Reprise) at the regular meeting of the Warren County School District board on Monday. The show - Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat - will be performed at Warren Area High School at 7 p.m. Thursday, March 31, and Friday, April 1, and at 2 and 7 p.m. Saturday, April 2.

The Warren County School District has a substitute problem.

According to Director of Administrative Support Services Gary Weber, there is an average of about 30 teacher positions unfilled each day in the district.

“The impact on any given school can be pretty extreme,” Weber said.

To help address that problem, the school board approved a significant increase to the daily pay for retired teachers who are willing to sub.

The going rate for a day of substitute teaching is $110. After 15 consecutive days, that rate goes up to $150 and to $180 after 60 days.

The rate for retired teachers willing to come back for a day was $125.

Those rates weren’t doing the trick.

“We’re trying to solve problems and entice folks to come in and do some more subbing,” Superintendent Amy Stewart said.

The district is not unique is experiencing trouble finding subs.

“There are districts – Erie County – that have gone to $225,” he said.

The district isn’t moving to that, but it did target folks with teaching experience.

“We’re increasing the amount of money to pay for retired teachers in an effort to entice retired substitutes,” Stewart said. The proposed amount is “the rate they were being paid before they retired.”

The district considers retired teachers an ideal target for the substitute program.

“We know that the best way to get folks in there that can get up to speed very quickly is to get retired teachers,” she said.

Asked how much that could mean, Stewart said, “It could be $300 and $400 per day. It depends on how many years they had when they did retire.”

That proposal passed unanimously.

With the All-County Musical coming up before the board’s next regular meeting, the members were serenaded. The show’s lead performers – Elizabeth Koebley, the narrator, and Logan Johnson, Joseph – performed Any Dream Will Do (Reprise).