Various establishments in America are dealing with staff shortages due to the COVID-19 Omicron variant surge. One California school district, the Palo Alto Unified School District, has called on parents to volunteer for janitorial duties, among other responsibilities, to continue school services.
According to FOX KTVU, over 500 parent volunteers signed up on the weekend of the launch of the 1 Palo Campaign. The California school district requires the volunteers to be fully vaccinated as they will assist inside the classroom, take over recess duties and clean the areas used by the student. They will also be tasked to check attendance and help with the vaccination efforts of the school.
Palo Alto Superintendent Don Austin told the parents that their volunteer role would "not be glаmorous." However, these are important jobs carried out every day so the kids can have a good learning environment.
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Absences from Teachers, Staff
Reports cited that more than 70 teachers and school staff have been down by COVID on a daily basis at the Palo Alto Unified School District. Since the holidays, cases in Palo Alto have also climbed to more than 4,000.
In Minnesota, the high school kids have taken over as custodians due to the staff shortage. The school pays these students $15.30 an hour for a two-hour clean-up after school.
On the other hand, Omicron has forced other schools in Atlanta, Cleveland, Detroit, and Milwaukee to shift to online learning again. In Chicago, Chicago Teachers Union also signed an agreement with the city to return to remote learning as 25 to 30 percent of the staff are absent because of the virus infection.
Burbio, a school tracking site, noted that over 1,500 schools said they would close in-person learning in the first week of January 2022. That number has ballooned to nearly 5,500 schools in the second week.
Parents Struggle with Omicron
Meanwhile, mom Amanda Kamara, 50, wishes the pandemic would end soon. She is one of the thousands of working parents struggling to get their life back on track because of this recent Omicron surge.
Kamara works as a store clerk at a busy airport. She has also been taking care of her mother, who is recovering from her hospital admission. On top of her work and obligations, Kamara is also overseeing her son's virtual classes.
Speaking with NBC News, Kamara said that she hadn't gotten much sleep during the pandemic, but she had no choice except to keep going. She also worries about the long-term effects of remote learning on her teenage boy as schools enter another year of online classes.
Dad Ryan Griffin, who has two young kids, said there is "no amount of preparation" for parents to handle the pandemic. Mom Melissa Hendricks noted that "everything is overwhelming," but she also acknowledges that it's difficult for many schools as well.
