Black Hawk Elementary got a helping hand from a state representative

RAPID CITY, S.D. (KEVN) - Rambunctious footsteps and loud chatter around miniature desks, a first-grade classroom, with no teacher.

South Dakota has been increasingly struggling with a substitute teacher shortage for a few years, resulting in schools taking last-minute measures in order to teach children.

One action Black Hawk Elementary took was bringing in one government official to substitute teach a first-grade class for a day.

“This has been great, the reality is that these first graders, even when they disagree with one another they treat each other with respect, frankly I think those of us in Washington DC could learn a lot spending a day in a first-grade classroom and I’ve gotten a lot more hugs here than I normally get in the US House,” said South Dakota Representative Dusty Johnson.

Johnson wrote up a lesson plan for the entire late-start day with this class consisting of reading, group work, and learning how to pronounce a long “I” sound.

He was also learning while teaching.

“The reality is that this is a critically important job and they’re doing it under pretty difficult circumstances so for me this was an important opportunity to show some solidarity and also learn a little bit of what goes on in the classroom,” said Johnson.

And Johnson hasn’t forgotten how integral a teacher figure is in a child’s life.

“It’s amazing even when you ask an old 45-year-old man about who’s some of the formative people in their lives have been, often you’ll hear teachers, you’ll hear third-grade teachers like Mrs. Welsh, you’ll hear 7th-grade science teachers like Mrs. Chandler, and if I can remember that 30 or 40 years after the fact than I think you know it is hard to overstate how important they are,” said Johnson.