Long term sub not teaching much

[Anonymous]

One of my kids in high school has a long term sub everyone likes, but he seems to have given up teaching. They have lots of catch up days and he stopped posting tests and quizzes. He just tells them the class before and it's random. So frustrating. My daughter loves the class because it's a breeze, but she is going to be so behind when the teacher comes back and has to catch them up. I choose my battles and letting this one slide and just trying to catch her up myself since it's a subject I know well.

Anyone else dealing with a long term sub who barely teachers? usually they have been pretty good.

[Anonymous]

That's what happens when you underpay adults and offer them no benefits or job security for doing a professional job.

[Anonymous]

The sub probably doesn't know the math. Get a tutor.

[Anonymous]

I’ve been a long-term sub, though not in high school. In my experience, the school needs to have a specific plan for the sub to execute, rather than leaving it up to the sub to make lesson plans with no support. I did great teaching my class during the first week when there was a prearranged lesson plan, worksheets, etc. for me. However, after that, it was very difficult getting any kind of guidance from the grade level team as to what I should be teaching next. Remember - subs aren’t teachers and don’t have access to all the things a permanent teacher would have.

[Anonymous]

Maybe speak to the grade level administrator— to ask if LT subs are provided with lesson plans, and how the school provides support to the students and to the sub when / if the lesson plans run out.

[Anonymous]

Hate to say it but....you're lucky they could find a long term sub.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’ve been a long-term sub, though not in high school. In my experience, the school needs to have a specific plan for the sub to execute, rather than leaving it up to the sub to make lesson plans with no support. I did great teaching my class during the first week when there was a prearranged lesson plan, worksheets, etc. for me. However, after that, it was very difficult getting any kind of guidance from the grade level team as to what I should be teaching next. Remember - subs aren’t teachers and don’t have access to all the things a permanent teacher would have.

Long Term subs are not provided lesson plans. Usually if a teacher knows they will be out, they will provide several weeks of plans. After that, you are on your own. Hopefully the CT/department provides some guidance, but with the current demands placed on them, they just don’t have the bandwith to help in a meaningful way. This is why long term subs are paid at a higher rate. I’m not saying it is enough pay or that the level of help should not be substantially more, but it is the reality of the situation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ve been a long-term sub, though not in high school. In my experience, the school needs to have a specific plan for the sub to execute, rather than leaving it up to the sub to make lesson plans with no support. I did great teaching my class during the first week when there was a prearranged lesson plan, worksheets, etc. for me. However, after that, it was very difficult getting any kind of guidance from the grade level team as to what I should be teaching next. Remember - subs aren’t teachers and don’t have access to all the things a permanent teacher would have.

Long Term subs are not provided lesson plans. Usually if a teacher knows they will be out, they will provide several weeks of plans. After that, you are on your own. Hopefully the CT/department provides some guidance, but with the current demands placed on them, they just don’t have the bandwith to help in a meaningful way. This is why long term subs are paid at a higher rate. I’m not saying it is enough pay or that the level of help should not be substantially more, but it is the reality of the situation.

+1, and they still send emails to parents, grading, conferences and progress reports. Then, because of the pay they often don’t want to workers hours beyond what they getting paid for.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ve been a long-term sub, though not in high school. In my experience, the school needs to have a specific plan for the sub to execute, rather than leaving it up to the sub to make lesson plans with no support. I did great teaching my class during the first week when there was a prearranged lesson plan, worksheets, etc. for me. However, after that, it was very difficult getting any kind of guidance from the grade level team as to what I should be teaching next. Remember - subs aren’t teachers and don’t have access to all the things a permanent teacher would have.

Long Term subs are not provided lesson plans. Usually if a teacher knows they will be out, they will provide several weeks of plans. After that, you are on your own. Hopefully the CT/department provides some guidance, but with the current demands placed on them, they just don’t have the bandwith to help in a meaningful way. This is why long term subs are paid at a higher rate. I’m not saying it is enough pay or that the level of help should not be substantially more, but it is the reality of the situation.

+1, and they still send emails to parents, grading, conferences and progress reports. Then, because of the pay they often don’t want to workers hours beyond what they getting paid for.

This. You can think that the hourly pay rate for a long term sub is pretty good, but it's only for the regular school hours. Not the many additional hours that teachers put in. And no benefits. And they receive almost no support or training. There may be virtual training provided, but it's on their own unpaid time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hate to say it but....you're lucky they could find a long term sub.

+1. Be thankful they found one. We had one at our school for math last year who quit a month in. She didn’t know any math and thought she could get by but was too stressed by it. They had a series of day to day subs and finally found another long term sun, who the parents still complained about and they eventually drove out.

[Anonymous]

I am a former fcps teacher. I would never long term sub as it is not worth it it. Long term subs today are warm bodies who are incapable of teaching. Fcps gets what they pay for!

[Anonymous]

I don’t see why anyone would long term sub. I think it’s only $3 an hour more and you have to do all your own planning, communicating with parents, etc. Unless the teaching market was such that it was hard to find a job and you wanted to get known at a school to be hired in the future, I don’t see a point. It’s not enough money and no benefits. You could easily have a regular sub job daily if you wanted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t see why anyone would long term sub. I think it’s only $3 an hour more and you have to do all your own planning, communicating with parents, etc. Unless the teaching market was such that it was hard to find a job and you wanted to get known at a school to be hired in the future, I don’t see a point. It’s not enough money and no benefits. You could easily have a regular sub job daily if you wanted.

This. I believe the retired teacher rate is slightly higher, or at least it used to be, although it's still not great. Most retired teachers who do long term jobs are knowledgeable about the subject area and vet the jobs carefully. They'll take the job if someone is going to be out on maternity leave or for a prearranged absence and they know the person has left good plans and is reachable if there's something they need. They're not going to do it for an unexpected vacancy where there's no existing structure in place. Those jobs are usually filled with whatever warm body is available. Like others have said, you get what you pay for.

[Anonymous]

In MCPS, many long term subs will be in place all year (esp in special ed where they could not find teachers). Your DD may have this sub this entire year

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t see why anyone would long term sub. I think it’s only $3 an hour more and you have to do all your own planning, communicating with parents, etc. Unless the teaching market was such that it was hard to find a job and you wanted to get known at a school to be hired in the future, I don’t see a point. It’s not enough money and no benefits. You could easily have a regular sub job daily if you wanted.

It’s about $6 more an hour. Not saying that makes it worth it, just posting the link.

https://www.fcps.edu/sites/default/files/media/pdf/FY23-hourly-substitute-and-homebound-rates.pdf