COVID-19 cases in the U.S. Are at an all-time high, with the highly transmittable Omicron variant spreading rapidly.

As more teachers test positive, the need for substitutes is high, leading to some administrators stepping in to cover classrooms.

When the number of substitutes on campus falls short of the number of teachers out, school administration gets crafty with coverage.

“So in your classes, you might see an assistant principal, you might see a counselor, you might see the librarian, you could see the head football coach. We have all these different people that we can utilize that don’t usually have classes assigned to them,” principal Ashley Rainwater said. “In the past, we’ve also closed it and moved it to the office, or we’ve closed the learning lab and moved it to the conference room where someone in the office can help, so that’s another thing we can do to help lessen the load.”

With a shortage of substitutes on campus, campus administrators, and other non-teachers have filled in as needed.

“For me, it was so much fun, because I used to be the instructional coach over English and I used to teach seniors so getting to do that again was super fun,” assistant principal Stacey Whaling said. “I got to add to the lesson and have great conversations, so I had a blast.”

For senior Chloe Campbell, having administration in the classroom was an engaging experience.

“It was really fun, I feel like it kind of spiced up the class,” Campbell said. “We have a lot of quiet people in class so before it felt like there wasn’t as much interaction with the class, but Mrs. Whaling was very comforting and asked us questions and we had good conversations so it was fun, I liked it a lot.”