All across the country companies have begun reporting a sudden drop in workers and a large need to get positions filled. Thousands of jobs remain unfilled with no workers in sight and no hope to fill them. Companies are trying their best but to no avail.

This problem isn’t just affecting major companies though; schools all across the country are experiencing this same problem, including the Wentzville School District.

Liberty has experienced low numbers of custodians, substitutes, and even bus drivers. In fact, almost every day at the end of school, administrators are announcing bus changes over the intercom due to the fact that we don’t have enough drivers. Some bus routes have to be combined while others have to be pushed back as far as 30 minutes in order to get all of the kids home.

Custodians are having a similar problem. They are having a hard time filling jobs and getting enough workers to be able to clean the whole school. 

WSD Director of Custodial Services Diana Moore is concerned about the shortages.

“My worries are the timing of filling the open positions.  I am sure they will eventually get filled; however, in the meantime, the current staff have to cover for the shortages either through overtime or ‘hitting the high spots!'” 

It was then that the idea of hiring students to fill these positions came into play. Students could work anywhere from 1-5 hours a day on as many days as they would like. According to Mrs. Lewis, the gifted education teacher, “If you only work 1-2 hours a day, your job would consist of just pulling trash cans from classrooms. If you wanted to work 3-5 hour shifts, you would be in charge of 6-7 classrooms. Cleaning a classroom would consist of sweeping and wiping off desks.” The average pay for a job like this is $10-$12 an hour.