Joplin R-8 limiting substitute teachers to four days a week

This should be interesting.

The Joplin R-8 School District, which nearly always has schools full of substitute teachers due to its never-ending meetings, seminars, and conferences (and then some teachers have the nerve to actually get sick), is limiting its substitute teachers to four days a week after the beginning of the new year.

The move is being made as a result of a provision of the Affordable Health Care Act that requires that health insurance be offered to employees working 30 hours or more per week. Joplin, like nearly all other school districts in the state, does not offer health care benefits to its substitute teachers.

The district's director of human services Tina Smith informed substitute teachers of the change in a recent e-mail.