Hawaii’s public schools are now starting to see disruptions due to rising teacher absences caused by the COVID-19 omicron variant surge, state schools interim Superintendent Keith Hayashi has confirmed.

Statewide on Wednesday, about 800 teachers called out sick, Hayashi said in a news conference.

Add them to roughly 800 additional teachers out for other reasons, such as family leave and vacation, and the 1,600 vacancies mean more than 12% of the state’s 12,000-teacher workforce was absent on Wednesday, he said.

The sick calls numbered over 800 on Monday and Tuesday as well, state Department of Education spokeswoman Nanea Kalani said. (An earlier report of 600 sick calls on Monday was updated after some teachers filed for sick leave retroactively, she said.)

The 1,600 teachers out daily this week is 23% higher than the approximately 1,300 that Kalani said was more typical before the surge.

And there have not been enough substitute teachers to cover the absences, with about 400 substitute requests going unfilled on Wednesday, Hayashi said.

“The schools are doing everything they can to cover the classrooms,” Hayashi said, and the priority remains keeping all 257 of Hawaii’s public schools open for in-person learning. But the omicron surge is affecting workers across the community in all industries.

Hayashi thanked the school faculty and staff who are devising creative ways to continue to keep students supervised and learning on campus.

He also asked parents for patience and understanding, as some classroom changes or even closures could happen with short notice.

The head of the Hawaii State Teachers Association, Osa Tui Jr., said members are reporting that counselors, security guards, district and state staff, and other workers are being called in to supervise students whose regular teachers are out. “That’s inappropriate,” he said. Those deployed employees are having to delay critical work of their own, he added.

Tui said the union understands the DOE’s placing a high priority on keeping schools open for in-person learning, but little meaningful learning can occur when nonteaching staff are being pulled in to “basically babysit” students herded into cafeterias and auditoriums. He added that since the DOE has seen similar scenarios with previous COVID-19 surges, the department should have devised and released a comprehensive, transparent plan weeks ago, and negotiated terms with the unions.

Caught in middle

Among those caught in the middle are many teachers who fear their schools are unsafe in the surge, and feel frustrated at what they consider a tardy, inadequate response from the education department.

One Oahu educator said she and some fellow district-level teachers are being pressured to “volunteer” to substitute at schools with high absences. By contract, they cannot be forced to work as classroom substitutes. She said there is a frustrating lack of coordination and guidance, and no allowance from supervisors to stop their regular work duties. She asked not to be named because of fear of retribution.

“It’s a mess,” she said. “I don’t see how they can say it’s better to have kids in person under these circumstances when right now some of those kids are just sitting in a classroom, no computer, no instruction. Is that really better?”

On the question of safety, Hayashi and other state officials continue to maintain that the public schools’ mitigation protocols have proven to keep COVID-19 cases relatively low. The DOE’s main strategies have been: promote vaccinations; conduct daily wellness checks, with anyone feeling sick staying home; wear masks indoors; and use proper hand hygiene. The DOE’s dashboard for COVID-19 shows 369 cases reported among 185,038 combined students and staff, which equals 0.20%, for Dec. 26 to Jan. 4. But that was during winter break.

Another teacher worries that the mere 300 adults on her high school campus cannot keep their more than 2,000 students properly masked, distanced and compliant with hygiene rules. She also asked to remain unnamed because she fears retribution.

“Our classrooms become a haven for our students to eat lunch, especially with the heavy rains. Eating lunch in one space without masks on becomes a potential super-spreader space,” she said. “Yet, do we make the students eat outside, crammed in the hallways, on the ground because we don’t have enough sitting spaces? What, really, is the lesser of the two evils? Our classrooms do not have ‘proper ventilation.’ We are told to open windows and doors, and then it pours and the wind pushes in rain, debris. Then what?”

Closure is last resort

The possibility of another temporary statewide closure of schools and shift to distance learning is an absolute last resort, DOE officials say, but it’s not off the table. Teacher absences are expected to continue to rise, with the expected peak of the omicron surge still a week or two away.

When Hayashi was asked what the criteria would be for closing a classroom, a school or the state school system, he said there is no set threshold. He said school principals and complex superintendents need flexibility to determine if and when a closure is required.

DOE spokeswoman Kalani said should the state Department of Health or the governor determine that a statewide change is needed, the superintendent has the authority to close schools.

In a memo sent to school administrators Wednesday, Hayashi advised individual schools to come up with “processes for closing classrooms due to the lack of supervision of students as a result of staff absences related to COVID-19. … Schools should plan for rolling absences and providing student work aligned with lessons missed for extended absences. For disruptions exceeding one day, schools should create a plan for the continuation of learning for the classroom(s) affected.”

The memo also said, “In the event of statewide disruption: The Superintendent will communicate any adjustments needed to the school models or school schedules. In cases of emergency, the HIDOE, in collaboration with and under the guidance of DOH, will direct immediate actions to be taken to ensure the health and safety of students and employees. In all other scenarios, shifts in the educational programs statewide will be announced at least three weeks prior to implementation to give schools and the community time to adjust to the changes.”

National cases climb

Nationwide, most schools remain open, but a growing list are feeling pressure to shift away from in-person learning as omicron’s threat to children is becoming clear.

An average of 672 children were admitted to hospitals every day with COVID-19 during the week ending Sunday, the highest such number of the pandemic, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

It follows a record-high number of new cases among children, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. The U.S. had more than 325,000 new cases among children during the week ending Dec. 30, according to data published this week by the academy. That is a 64% increase in new cases compared with the previous week.

About 1,045 children under 18 have died from COVID-19, according to CDC data.

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The Associated Press and New York Times contributed to this report.