Despite a roster 350 deep, Billings School District 2 often finds itself short on substitute teachers.

Late last week at West High, the school needed 15 substitutes to cover for missing teachers. The district office could come up with only 13. So regular teachers covered for the two instructorless classes, volunteering their preparation period to fill in an hour at a time.

“Almost every day we have jobs that go unfilled,” said Dan Martin, director of human resources for the school district.

On average, the district — which has around 1,200 teachers — uses 75 to 100 substitutes a day.

Teachers earn a small stipend, about $28 for the hour, for filling in when subs can’t be found.

Subs earn $65 to $70 a day, or roughly $10 an hour.

It’s not surprising, some substitute teachers said, that the district has trouble filling empty spots.

“Not everybody is prepared to disrupt their day for those wages,” said Heidemarie Reed, a substitute German teacher and grandmother.

“Just about everyone makes more than a substitute teacher,” said Bob Olson, another sub who fills in from kindergarten to 12th grade.

Reed isn’t called on often to sub — she has no teaching credential. As a native German, she only fills in for German language classes.

Olson, who is otherwise unemployed and looking for a job, takes every substitute teaching gig he can get, which keeps him busy given the constant demand.

“I work every day,” he said. “I enjoy it and I’d like to think I’m good at it.” But, he added, “I just can’t afford to do it for what they pay.”

District administrators recognize that low pay is a factor.

“It’s a major issue,” Martin said. “The subs have not been given an increase (in pay) in many, many years.”

Teachers have 12 days throughout the school year, which lasts from late August to early June, to use for personal leave or sick time. To use a sick day, teachers call in to the school. To use a personal day, the principal must give approval, Martin said.

Jolene Laughery, a science teacher at Lewis and Clark Middle School, tried to take a day off earlier this month to get her 5-year-old son the H1N1 vaccine. She said the location of the Monday vaccine shots was announced Sunday night.

She called in but couldn’t get a sub on such short notice. So she went to school that day and missed the vaccine.

Teachers can’t take a long lunch or come in late, she said. Normally it’s not a big deal, she said. But as a single parent, taking off work on a day’s notice can be tough, she said.

“What are my options?” she asked. “I don’t have the freedom to go.”

Dave Cobb, principal at West High, said that while personal leave and sick days account for much of the teacher absences, school activities such as sports or music also contribute.

For example, he said the football team has a coaching staff of 10 persons, many of them teachers. When the team travels for an away game, the school must find substitutes for the coaches who go out on the road.

The school has its greatest need for substitutes on Fridays and Mondays, he said. In fact, the first Friday of the school year, West High had 33 teachers out for various reasons.

Dennis Holmes, principal at Senior High, said managing a school that’s constantly short a teacher or two is the reality in Billings. Like other schools, when he has a class with no teacher the faculty gives up preparation periods to fill in.

“That has worked well,” he said. “And there’s hardly a day where that doesn’t happen.”

Shauna Kerr, an art teacher at West High, said she has filled in before for a missing teacher.

In fact, she said, “I don’t think there’s a teacher that hasn’t. We don’t ever balk at it or complain because that could be me next week.”

In the most extreme situations, when there are no substitutes and not enough teachers to fill in, administrators take the instructorless students to the cafeteria for a sort of impromptu study hall, Cobb said.

It has been at least two years since they’ve had to do that, he said.

Over the next few years, the district has forecast a $5.3 million shortfall to its budget, meaning the issue of substitute pay will be competing with other district programs and projects as funds dwindle. Administrators have acknowledged the tough economic times make the issue more complex.

However, they said, that doesn’t mean the issue should be pushed aside.

“I believe it still needs to be addressed,” Holmes said.

Contact Rob Rogers at rrogers@billingsgazette.com or at 406-657-1231.