Denham Springs High School is canceling classes Thursday after a large number of employees said they will be absent, just days after Livingston Parish voters rejected a tax proposal that would have given teachers and other support personnel pay raises.
Livingston Parish Public Schools leaders said in a press release that “a large number of employees have declared they will be absent,” adding that they were unable to find qualified substitutes to fill those vacancies.
“The volume of absences that has been declared is greater than we can appropriately manage at this time,” said Superintendent Joe Murphy. “This large shortage of employees means campus leadership would not be able to provide a normal learning day for our students, and lacking this many personnel could create a safety concern for students and employees.”
Denham Springs High Principal Wes Howard also said in the press release that he had contacted numerous substitutes and explored other coverage options to no avail.
“At some point we knew the district needed to be aware of the challenge our campus was facing,” Howard said. “We knew it was important to let our community know of this concern as soon as possible so they could make alternative plans for their children and/or with their employers.”
As of Wednesday evening, Murphy said, the district’s online self-reporting system for declaring absences did not show there would be an abnormal shortage of campus personnel Friday, so the district has planned for classes to resume then.
The high school is Livingston Parish’s largest campus, with 1,536 students and 133 faculty and staff, not including bus drivers and food nutrition workers.
The outcry from educators after the defeat of the pay raise tax has been swift.
Some teachers have taken to social media to express their dismay with the outcome and speculated the parish, which already has a dearth of qualified instructors, will continue to lose talented personnel to more-lucrative opportunities in neighboring districts.
On Tuesday, Livingston Parish Schools leaders announced that a job fair that had been slated for Saturday was canceled due to anticipated low turnout. Murphy said only 49 teacher applicants had registered for the event.
School leaders have said difficulty hiring quality teachers contributed to the district falling out of the state’s top 10 highest-rated districts for academic performance last year.
A school board meeting is scheduled Thursday evening, during which a union representative is slated to speak on teacher “concerns and opinions after failure of [the] proposed tax,” according to the agenda.
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