Subs
A persistence problem in schools that has no easy answer is teacher absenteeism. Teachers can be absent for many reasons- professional leave (conferences), professional training, attendance at CSE meetings, personal reasons and illness. We budget and hire a substitute teacher to fill in but is it the same experience? By and large I would say no. Children do not respond to a substitute the way they would to his/her classroom teacher. We budget $420,000 for substitutes, last year we exceeded our budget by $60,000. In addition we increased the pay of subs by $10 per day.
We decided to try something different this year. Instead of hiring 150 different subs for 25 days each, we decided to hire 25 subs for 150 days. The idea is simple; have multiple permanent subs in the buildings that know the children, know the routines and know the curriculum. Each sub is ‘assigned’ to specific teachers and work closely with them in instructional delivery. If teachers are not absent the permanent subs assist teachers in the classroom. Presently they are covering classrooms while the teacher is benchmarking students.
Since each teacher would earn $100 per day for 150 days ($15,000) the total budget for 25 permanent subs is $375,000 or $45,000 under budget. Those monies will be used to pay for subs during September and June and the rare occasion we cannot cover all of the classes with the 25 subs.
We are hopeful this approach addresses the loss of instructional time when teachers aren’t present. In addition, if we can save some money in the process it is even better.
I like the idea that subs would be brought into our school community. There is a model for this is in Actors Equity, where understudies report backstage every night, are aware of the moment-to-moment adjustments in a production, and are ready to go at any time.