Teacher is on leave, sub doesn't teach, students are left behind for months

[Anonymous]

Is it possible to require the school to pull a specialist to do a catchup?

[Anonymous]

You have to hire a private tutor if you want your kid to learn this subject this year.

[Anonymous]

Thanks, but it might only solve my kid's problem. If the school can help, then it potentially solves the problems for a couple hundreds of kids. Right?

Anonymous wrote:You have to hire a private tutor if you want your kid to learn this subject this year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is it possible to require the school to pull a specialist to do a catchup?

No. The law does not state that your child is required to be taught by a specialist.

https://law.lis.virginia.gov/admincode/title8/agency20/chapter671/section320/

They must have a high school diploma, and 2 years of college or work experience. That's it. For the $200/day FCPS pays a long term sub, you are getting a warm body who hopefully is handed materials by other teachers in the department, because they aren't paid enough to do a full teacher job.

I'm sorry, it sucks. In a perfect world, the school would employ a "floater" teacher in each department, fully licensed in the subject matter. There is 0 budget for that though. Your best solution is to throw money at it from home if it's a subject that builds year to year (i.e. math or foreign language)

[Anonymous]

what grade or subject?

what are they getting grading wise?

[Anonymous]

What subject is this? We had this happen in MS Spanish and I got to get th principal to at least agree to let the kids retake all the tests after they’d been taught the material (they were giving the kids the tests even though no teacher and almost everyone was failing.). I also suggested she could likely get a parent volunteer to help review the material while the sub functioned as the actual official person — she thought it was a good idea but the teacher had just been released to return at that point. They are allowed to have parent volunteers in classroom at principals discretion so if they are really in a jam and tj material is within someone’s wheelhouse, that might work.

[Anonymous]

Another option if it’s something llle history is to just ask if they can watch online materials — for all the AP classes there are tons of people basically teaching it online.

[Anonymous]

You can ask, but the school probably won't care. The best way to ask is to contact as many parents as possible in that class, and get the PTA involved, so that as many parents as possible ask the Principal for a substitute that can actually teach the content. Schools can generally switch out a sub.

But let me tell you - this is one of those situations where you need to get a tutor pronto for your kid. The school might never get around to finding a good sub.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can ask, but the school probably won't care. The best way to ask is to contact as many parents as possible in that class, and get the PTA involved, so that as many parents as possible ask the Principal for a substitute that can actually teach the content. Schools can generally switch out a sub.

But let me tell you - this is one of those situations where you need to get a tutor pronto for your kid. The school might never get around to finding a good sub.

+1, there is a warm body in the class. This is not their top priority.

[Anonymous]

Thanks all for the advice. This is 8th grade science. Kid just told me that the sub did not teach/grade much in the past two months, and they will have SOL in two months. At this moment, it may be too late to group parents, get PTA, and find a good sub, so here is my plan:

1. borrow the SOL review packets from my kid.
2. check what materials are covered, so I can get a ballpark for it.
3. find a tutor.

[Anonymous]

oh this is middle school? i thought it was a class in high school that counted. I wouldn't even bother with a tutor.

There is no negative consequence if your kid fails the SOL BTW.

[Anonymous]

Oh, it's middle school science? There is zero consequence to this, don't waste your time. Watch some planet earth and call it a day.

[Anonymous]

One thing many parents don’t realize is that in
Fairfax County, the 8th-grade science SOL only matters for school statistics than for the individual student.

The state uses the pass rate for school accountability ratings, which is why schools (typically) push students to take it seriously.

OP, if you child happens to fail the SOL, I would not have him/her particpate in the post-SOL cram sessions that schools do for the retake. Theses sessions are rough on the kids, do not lead to actual learning and function only because FCPS knows statistically that there will be a certain percentage of that will pass on the retake and increase the school's rating.

In high school, stay locked in to what is happening in the classroom. Hire a tutor as soon as you get wind of this issue or if your child is in a class with a dud teacher.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:oh this is middle school? i thought it was a class in high school that counted. I wouldn't even bother with a tutor.

There is no negative consequence if your kid fails the SOL BTW.

+1 yes who the heck cares about an 8th grade SOL?!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thanks all for the advice. This is 8th grade science. Kid just told me that the sub did not teach/grade much in the past two months, and they will have SOL in two months. At this moment, it may be too late to group parents, get PTA, and find a good sub, so here is my plan:

1. borrow the SOL review packets from my kid.
2. check what materials are covered, so I can get a ballpark for it.
3. find a tutor.

Don't do this OP. If you are going to spend your time and money worrying about a subject, hire a writing tutor or something else that will actually lead to real learning. 8th grade science is not the place to stress or cram for the love of God.