English teacher Jose Rosario often finds himself subbing for the class next door, not because the teacher is sick, but because there isn’t one.

An English 1 ICAP class has lacked a permanent teacher all year. Sub after sub has flowed through the classroom, with six teachers thus far going in and out of rotation. Even the location changes: it was in a temporary portable classroom for the entire first semester before switching to the B-wing.

Similarly, an English 2 class has had at least three teachers, and other classes have had multiple substitutes due to teachers on extended leave. As a result, Rosario and other teachers have had to make lesson plans for classes they do not teach.

For the month of January, an average of 14 substitute teachers were needed every day, whereas an average of 16 substitutes were called in every day in January 2015.

According to Elvira Macias, the secretary for the Instructional Vice Principal’s office, the real issue this year is finding permenant teachers for the English department.

“It’s that quick turnaround of teachers that we hire and then they leave, we hire another one, and they leave,” Macias said. “So we need to cover those classes in addition to the regular.”