JEFFERSON TWP — A local schools superintendent wants to use an innovative method to cut down on the need for substitute teachers in the district.

David Foley, superintendent at the South Butler County School District, gave a presentation at Wednesday's board meeting on the district's constant need for substitute teachers — and inability to get enough of them — on many occasions.

In an effort to think outside the box, Foley recommended that the school board approve a “wellness incentive” for the district's 166 teachers that would pay them a $1,000 annual bonus in two installments for not taking any of their 10 sick days during the school year.

He said $500 would be paid before the Christmas break and another $500 before the end of the school year.

When asked what teachers would do if they were sick and should not be around their students or the staff, Foley said they could take one of their three personal days.

Foley mentioned a school board meeting earlier this year at which parents complained that classes in the lower grades were being doubled up when a substitute could not be found for a classroom.

Switching to a substitute teacher service other than Kelly Services, which provides substitutes for South Butler, would necessitate a software expenditure and probably would not solve the crisis anyway, Foley said.

A program in which community members with a bachelor's degree can be trained and used as substitutes also did not pan out as well as expected, he said.

South Butler, along with Mars, Moniteau and Seneca Valley, pays substitutes $90 per day, while others pay $100, so no large disparity in pay rate can be attributed to the lack of substitutes in the district, Foley said.

“I think our sub challenges are geography related,” Foley said.

He said the district budgeted more than $275,000 for substitute teachers this year, and $180,000 has been spent so far. Paying the bonus to all 166 teachers would cost only $166,000.

The program also could lessen the need for so many substitute teachers.

“We believe the best education is to have the regular teacher in that room every day,” Foley said.

The proposal also would raise substitute pay to $95 per day and add two daily substitutes at the primary school, two at the intermediate elementary school and one at the secondary schools at an annual cost of $85,000.

Foley said he does not want to offer the bonus on a sliding scale, or $100 less for one sick day taken, $200 less for two and so on.

“That's going to affect the fill rate,” he said.

Board member George Zacherl, whose wife is a teacher in the district, praised Foley for coming up with a program to try to stem the need for substitutes.

Zacherl said he is concerned that if a teacher takes a sick day at the beginning of the year, he or she has no incentive to not take more sick days throughout the rest of the year.

Foley replied that the teacher still could try for the second $500 by not taking any sick days during the second half of the year.

Zacherl said money is not always the motivator for teachers and suggested the teachers might better appreciate the purchase of something for their classroom instead of the bonus.

“I'm not opposed to anything,” Foley said.

While one board member suggested Foley try the program at the start of the 2020-21 school year, Foley said he wants to try it as a pilot program from January to June to see what might need to be worked out next year.

Zacherl suggested the district institute the $5 per day pay increase for subs to see if that helps — and if not, the wellness incentive could be considered.

Foley said he has not talked to the South Butler County School District Education Association about the potential program, which would require a memorandum of understanding with the teachers.

He said all but one teacher used at least one sick day in the 2018-2019 school year.