"We know that we have people in our communities that volunteer at the campus, so we're doing a plea to have them consider being a substitute.”

Fernando Medina, Hays Consolidated Independent School District’ chief human resources officer, regarding the district’s plea to parents to have them stand in as substitute teachers due to staffing shortages caused by the omicron variant. Some consider having parents and guardians sub is less risky because they are, in some ways, already a part of the school’s COVID-19 bubble through their own students. (KUT — Jan. 7, 2022)