Make it easier to become a substitute teacher

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is there a limit to how many hours a retired teacher can sub without it affecting their pension?

Bump

Are there any retired teachers on this thread who has an answer?

I don’t believe that this is an issue, but there are certainly a lot of barriers to subbing after retirement. Most retirees do not want to sub every day and only want to sub at their former school/in their former department. The sub office requires subs to work a certain number of days over a period of time. If subs don’t work enough, they get booted. Retirees also have to jump through paperwork hoops to sub, despite being employees several months prior to subbing. Very few recent retirees are coming back to sub.

Thanks. The other things you mentioned are understood. I’m retiring at the end of this school year and want to work doing something part time, so I’m considering subbing. I wouldn’t be concerned about not working enough. I’d be willing to sub at a number of nearby ESs and trying MS or HS would be interesting, at least initially.

This year it's only 10 total days you have to sub to avoid going through fingerprinting the next year.

I am a former (but not retired) teacher that only subs a few days a week at a few schools but am already at 20 days for the year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is there a limit to how many hours a retired teacher can sub without it affecting their pension?

Bump

Are there any retired teachers on this thread who has an answer?

I don’t believe that this is an issue, but there are certainly a lot of barriers to subbing after retirement. Most retirees do not want to sub every day and only want to sub at their former school/in their former department. The sub office requires subs to work a certain number of days over a period of time. If subs don’t work enough, they get booted. Retirees also have to jump through paperwork hoops to sub, despite being employees several months prior to subbing. Very few recent retirees are coming back to sub.

Thanks. The other things you mentioned are understood. I’m retiring at the end of this school year and want to work doing something part time, so I’m considering subbing. I wouldn’t be concerned about not working enough. I’d be willing to sub at a number of nearby ESs and trying MS or HS would be interesting, at least initially.

This year it's only 10 total days you have to sub to avoid going through fingerprinting the next year.

I am a former (but not retired) teacher that only subs a few days a week at a few schools but am already at 20 days for the year.

Thank you. I’m thinking about maybe ~3 days a week if I can. Not getting enough days shouldn’t be a problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sub pay sucks.

It’s better than the zero pay you get as a SAHM.

[Anonymous]

This past year it wasn't too difficult to get sub jobs if you only wanted a few a week or a few a month to get to the ten required to stay in the FCPS system...

The pay truly does suck

Substitute Instructional Assistant $15.95
Substitute Teacher (less than 11 days) $17.79

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This past year it wasn't too difficult to get sub jobs if you only wanted a few a week or a few a month to get to the ten required to stay in the FCPS system...

The pay truly does suck

Substitute Instructional Assistant $15.95
Substitute Teacher (less than 11 days) $17.79

DP
Just to update the hourly rates:
Substitute IA $16.59
Substitute Teacher Short Term $18.50
Retired Short-Term $22.78

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This past year it wasn't too difficult to get sub jobs if you only wanted a few a week or a few a month to get to the ten required to stay in the FCPS system...

The pay truly does suck

Substitute Instructional Assistant $15.95
Substitute Teacher (less than 11 days) $17.79

It’s not about it being hard to get a job— it precludes people who only want to work for a teacher or two that they trust. This doesn’t sound like it would relieve the burden that much, but a large number of teachers at my school used to have retirees like this for the few days a year we were out. They don’t want to sub for just anyone—they used to teach in our dept and know how we run our classes. I was able to leave actual lesson plans for them. When they cut the retiree sub pay and the sub office treated them like crap, they all stopped subbing. They should reduce the number of days required for retirees and raise the pay.

[Anonymous]

I think a recommendation letter from an employer is a little much as many people would be SAHMs. The transcripts are fine though. If you say you have a degree then prove it. Transcripts are not difficult to get most of the time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Last year, my daughter's principal asked me to help her out by becoming a sub. I had just started a job that was pretty flexible and I was happy to help out as long as it meant keeping the school open. Before I started my job, I was a stay at home parent for years.

When I went to do the application, it required 2 recommendations - one from a current employer. Though my job was flexible, I definitely didn't feel comfortable asking my new boss to write a recommendation so I could substitute teach. And as a stay at home parent for the past 8 years, I didn't have a previous employer. As a result, I didn't apply.

The application also required transcripts from my universities - I have them but most stay at home parents don't - and it can be expensive to collect them - something like 1/2 day's work substitute teaching.

FCPS needs to temporarily make it easier for parents to substitute teach. There are a lot of parents willing to help out the schools but FCPS has not made it easy. Instead of doing everything they can to keep schools open, they are defaulting to closing schools. In the midst of an historic pandemic, it's still business as usual.

All true, and yet all their hoop-jumping requirements haven't improved the sub pool one bit. I am a former FCPS teacher, and when I thought I was helping by offering to sub after covid, I encountered the same absurd process. The application itself was days long, followed by submitting a lot of documents I'm pretty sure FCPS still has on file somewhere, and since I've been self-employed since I left teaching I don't have any recent references. So I'm not subbing for FCPS, while people way less qualified are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is there a limit to how many hours a retired teacher can sub without it affecting their pension?

Bump

Are there any retired teachers on this thread who has an answer?

I don’t believe that this is an issue, but there are certainly a lot of barriers to subbing after retirement. Most retirees do not want to sub every day and only want to sub at their former school/in their former department. The sub office requires subs to work a certain number of days over a period of time. If subs don’t work enough, they get booted. Retirees also have to jump through paperwork hoops to sub, despite being employees several months prior to subbing. Very few recent retirees are coming back to sub.

Thanks. The other things you mentioned are understood. I’m retiring at the end of this school year and want to work doing something part time, so I’m considering subbing. I wouldn’t be concerned about not working enough. I’d be willing to sub at a number of nearby ESs and trying MS or HS would be interesting, at least initially.

This year it's only 10 total days you have to sub to avoid going through fingerprinting the next year.

I am a former (but not retired) teacher that only subs a few days a week at a few schools but am already at 20 days for the year.

Would you say it is fairly easy to pick up 3 days a week between 5 or 6 nearby elementary schools?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is there a limit to how many hours a retired teacher can sub without it affecting their pension?

Bump

Are there any retired teachers on this thread who has an answer?

I don’t believe that this is an issue, but there are certainly a lot of barriers to subbing after retirement. Most retirees do not want to sub every day and only want to sub at their former school/in their former department. The sub office requires subs to work a certain number of days over a period of time. If subs don’t work enough, they get booted. Retirees also have to jump through paperwork hoops to sub, despite being employees several months prior to subbing. Very few recent retirees are coming back to sub.

Thanks. The other things you mentioned are understood. I’m retiring at the end of this school year and want to work doing something part time, so I’m considering subbing. I wouldn’t be concerned about not working enough. I’d be willing to sub at a number of nearby ESs and trying MS or HS would be interesting, at least initially.

This year it's only 10 total days you have to sub to avoid going through fingerprinting the next year.

I am a former (but not retired) teacher that only subs a few days a week at a few schools but am already at 20 days for the year.

Would you say it is fairly easy to pick up 3 days a week between 5 or 6 nearby elementary schools?

Do you have a pulse? Are you nice to children? If the answer to both is yes, you can pick up 3 days a week at one elementary school.

[Anonymous]

We could have 4-5 FT subs at my school and they'd have work every day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is there a limit to how many hours a retired teacher can sub without it affecting their pension?

Bump

Are there any retired teachers on this thread who has an answer?

I don’t believe that this is an issue, but there are certainly a lot of barriers to subbing after retirement. Most retirees do not want to sub every day and only want to sub at their former school/in their former department. The sub office requires subs to work a certain number of days over a period of time. If subs don’t work enough, they get booted. Retirees also have to jump through paperwork hoops to sub, despite being employees several months prior to subbing. Very few recent retirees are coming back to sub.

Thanks. The other things you mentioned are understood. I’m retiring at the end of this school year and want to work doing something part time, so I’m considering subbing. I wouldn’t be concerned about not working enough. I’d be willing to sub at a number of nearby ESs and trying MS or HS would be interesting, at least initially.

This year it's only 10 total days you have to sub to avoid going through fingerprinting the next year.

I am a former (but not retired) teacher that only subs a few days a week at a few schools but am already at 20 days for the year.

Would you say it is fairly easy to pick up 3 days a week between 5 or 6 nearby elementary schools?

If you can get on the "preferred" list at those schools then they will most likely pre-arrange jobs for you. It might be slow the first few weeks and you won't be able to be picky about jobs, but once you've survived one day and made a good impression, you will be golden. Almost all (all but 3) of my 20 jobs have been pre-arranged by teachers emailing me in advance. I think our local elementary has a list of people they call first (outside the automated system), if they can't find someone then it goes in the system.

I don't take morning of jobs because it doesn't work for our family at this time in terms of childcare coordination.

[Anonymous]

I'm a sub and constantly see sub vacancies for Special Ed positions. In fact, that's mostly what's advertised. I never accept those jobs because I haven't been trained in Special Ed, and I imagine many subs feel similarly. So who is filling in for these teachers?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm a sub and constantly see sub vacancies for Special Ed positions. In fact, that's mostly what's advertised. I never accept those jobs because I haven't been trained in Special Ed, and I imagine many subs feel similarly. So who is filling in for these teachers?

I was a SPED teacher in a different district and I developed a list of subs to contact. Usually they were retired teachers or subs from other classes who I saw were good and invited to check out my class so they knew what they were getting into.
If I just posted a job into the system it was highly unlikely to get picked up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^ you're too lazy to get a recommendation and go online to get a transcript, but FCPS should think you're the perfect sub? GTHO.

+1. And even more hilarious is the assertion that if they don’t hire someone who’s too lazy to follow their process, the only alternative is subs who don’t speak English. Please.