Substitute teachers: Front of the class -- for now
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No Comments [ Add Comment ]By BETH YOUNG
Standard-Examiner Davis Bureau
With the teacher shortage in Utah, it can be hard for districts to find qualified teachers. But teachers are finding it can be even more difficult to find someone to take over for them in the classroom for longer than what it takes to get over a cold.
By state rules, any substitute teacher who will be in a class for more than eight weeks must have a teaching license or be replaced by someone who has one. But sometimes finding a certified long-term substitute can be practically impossible.
Cook Elementary School Principal Helene Van Natter recently helped her daughter-in-law, a teacher at King Elementary in Layton, find a substitute for her 12 weeks of maternity leave.
"We had the list of everyone who was certified, and they all turned her down," Van Natter said.
The nature of substitute work adds to the difficulty of finding someone to cover a long-term teacher absence.
"The reason they are subbing is they want the freedom to come and go," Van Natter said. "That's like being a full-time teacher, and it doesn't pay enough to be a full-time teacher."
In the Weber School District, a noncertified substitute teacher gets $79 per day if requested for more than 20 consecutive days. The amount is similar in other school districts. A certified substitute gets more -- $97.50 a day.
After making every effort to find a licensed teacher, schools often have no choice but to break the state's rule on long-term assignments and have someone without teacher training in the classroom.
Jean Hill, Utah State Office of Education law specialist, said the consequence for breaking the rule is that schools do not get state money for long-term substitutes who are not licensed.
"We want them to follow the rule, but there is not a penalty we could impose that is worse than what they are already going through," she said.
While the Davis district has an automated phone system teachers can call to get a substitute -- with and without licenses -- most schools also have a preferred list of substitutes they work with on a regular basis.
"We have a group of subs that have a good rapport with the kids," said King Elementary Principal Buck Ekstrom. "We try to get those people who are familiar with the school, and we don't have as many problems. I would say, at least every other day we have a substitute in the building. "
The substitute who will be in Van Natter's daughter-in-law's third-grade class does not have a teaching degree, but has been substitute teaching in the area for eight years.
"The longest term I have ever done is three weeks," said Diatra Wilko. "This is the first time for this long a period. But they know me, and I know the kids."
Sheri Christensen is a substitute who has a teaching degree, but she let her license lapse. She said substitutes with those qualifications are in constant demand.
"I could work all the time if I wanted to, but I don't," she said. "I had five people ask me for the same day once."
In 2002, the Utah State University Substitute Teaching Institute did a study on teacher absenteeism and determined that teachers are out of the classroom about 6 percent of the time in Utah.
"This is lower than we deemed the national average, which is 8 (percent) to 10 percent," said Geoffrey Smith, Substitute Teaching Institute director.
Smith said there have not been many studies done on the impact of substitutes on students.
"They're filling an absence, so without a substitute, you have no teacher," Smith said. "So they are having a positive impact on students."
Employing long-term, nonlicensed substitutes, however, goes against federal legislation.
Smith said, according to No Child Left Behind law, parents must be notified if a noncertified teacher is going to be teaching in the classroom for more than 21 days.
With the average student spending almost a week each school year with a substitute, teachers say finding well- qualified people is important to them.
"Nobody comes in my classroom that I haven't trained, because I want to know my kids are taken care of," said Donna Trease, a Creekside Elementary School third-grade teacher who formerly taught the Davis District's Substitute Boot Camp.
"To find a long-term sub for me would be very difficult, because the subs that I use are busy every day," she said.
Van Natter said there could be a resource in former teachers whose children are starting school.
"I bet Utah has a lot of people who let their certifications lapse because they stayed home with their kids," she said. "A lot of them are ready to return and just not sure how. We want them to call and get back in the system because we need them. They are our best resource."
As long as there is a teacher shortage in Utah, there may also be a shortage of people to cover for them.
"We are so desperate for teachers that we try to talk good subs into becoming teachers," Trease said.
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