JACKSON TWP — The Seneca Valley School District needs substitute teachers.

Superintendent Tracy Vitale will host a meeting for parents interested in substitute teaching or teacher assistant positions from 10 to 11:30 a.m. on Monday at the senior high school auditorium.

Vitale said the district will take anyone who is certified as a teacher.

“If you can’t do five days a week, we will take one. We will take two days. We will take whatever you can give us,” Vitale said Monday at the school board meeting.

Vitale said the district is targeting stay-at-home mothers who are certified teachers who can’t work full time, but now that their children are in school full-time, they could substitute a few days a week.

“We will take any amount of time. We are that desperate for substitute teachers,” she said.

The shortage of substitute teachers is a statewide problem, Vitale said.

Vitale said she was at a meeting where a state Department of Education speaker said in any given year the department usually certifies about 15,500 teachers for the spring season. However last season, the department only certified 5,000.

There are schools like Duquesne University that offer 50 percent off tuition for students to major in education, Vitale said.

“We need to get back to recruiting talent in the field, and we need to get back to recruiting numbers,” she said.

The school board Monday approved the day to day substitute pay rate for substitute teachers at $90, but after 30 days it will jump to $100 a day. Seneca Valley retirees were receiving $100 a day, but for the remainder of the 2015-16 school year they will be paid $125 a day.

“I hope that is more rewarding than trying to work at a department store and getting extra money for Christmas,” Vitale said.

“I hope we can compete with those hourly rates, and we want you here with our kids.”