750+ substitute openings in APS alone

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
What is APS policy regarding subs and professional development? Say a teacher requests a sub ahead of time so they can attend required PD. That request is approved. However, when the PD day arrives, a lot of teachers are out sick and there is a sub shortage. Does APS ask the original teacher to cancel their PD plans and then reallocate their sub to cover an ill teacher's class or does the original teacher go to required PD as planned, with the sub covering their class and APS left trying to find other ways to cover the sick teacher's class?


It depends on the training and department ime

This is such a specific question that it's suspicious. Why are you asking?

With such an acute sub shortage. are there ways to relieve pressure? Could temporarily scaling back required PD during school hours reduce the demand for subs? It could give teachers a break temporarily as well given all the other things they're juggling. But maybe APS already does this, which was what the question related to. If PD is scheduled but it can be adjusted depending on sub availability, that's another way to relieve pressure too.

[Anonymous]

This is such a specific question that it's suspicious. Why are you asking?


With such an acute sub shortage. are there ways to relieve pressure? Could temporarily scaling back required PD during school hours reduce the demand for subs? It could give teachers a break temporarily as well given all the other things they're juggling. But maybe APS already does this, which was what the question related to. If PD is scheduled but it can be adjusted depending on sub availability, that's another way to relieve pressure too.
[Report Post]

What on earth makes you think there is all this PD going on during regular school hours? There simply isn't. This is a red herring.
Some ways to resolve the problem:
--have the Syphax staff help out
--have parents, community members, and local business folks sign up to be subs

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:


This is such a specific question that it's suspicious. Why are you asking?


With such an acute sub shortage. are there ways to relieve pressure? Could temporarily scaling back required PD during school hours reduce the demand for subs? It could give teachers a break temporarily as well given all the other things they're juggling. But maybe APS already does this, which was what the question related to. If PD is scheduled but it can be adjusted depending on sub availability, that's another way to relieve pressure too.
[Report Post]

What on earth makes you think there is all this PD going on during regular school hours? There simply isn't. This is a red herring.
Some ways to resolve the problem:
--have the Syphax staff help out
--have parents, community members, and local business folks sign up to be subs

Jay Mathews had a column a while back where he highlighted one sub's assignments. (Yes, a sample size of one is just that). But it was remarkable how many assignments were due to increased time demands being placed on teachers to juggle a range of requirements from planning, admin meetings, etc. Curious if this applies here as well.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/substitute-teachers-use-less/2021/08/22/ff3d4946-0031-11ec-a664-4f6de3e17ff0_story.html

With the sub shortage persisting unfortunately, any way to decrease sub pressure while simultaneously lifting additional demands on teachers could be helpful. Of course, trying to get more community members to sign up would be best.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:



This is such a specific question that it's suspicious. Why are you asking?


With such an acute sub shortage. are there ways to relieve pressure? Could temporarily scaling back required PD during school hours reduce the demand for subs? It could give teachers a break temporarily as well given all the other things they're juggling. But maybe APS already does this, which was what the question related to. If PD is scheduled but it can be adjusted depending on sub availability, that's another way to relieve pressure too.
[Report Post]

What on earth makes you think there is all this PD going on during regular school hours? There simply isn't. This is a red herring.
Some ways to resolve the problem:
--have the Syphax staff help out
--have parents, community members, and local business folks sign up to be subs


Jay Mathews had a column a while back where he highlighted one sub's assignments. (Yes, a sample size of one is just that). But it was remarkable how many assignments were due to increased time demands being placed on teachers to juggle a range of requirements from planning, admin meetings, etc. Curious if this applies here as well.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/sub...c-a664-4f6de3e17ff0_story.html

With the sub shortage persisting unfortunately, any way to decrease sub pressure while simultaneously lifting additional demands on teachers could be helpful. Of course, trying to get more community members to sign up would be bes

t.

Not surprising. Jay Mathews is lazy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:


This is such a specific question that it's suspicious. Why are you asking?


With such an acute sub shortage. are there ways to relieve pressure? Could temporarily scaling back required PD during school hours reduce the demand for subs? It could give teachers a break temporarily as well given all the other things they're juggling. But maybe APS already does this, which was what the question related to. If PD is scheduled but it can be adjusted depending on sub availability, that's another way to relieve pressure too.
[Report Post]

What on earth makes you think there is all this PD going on during regular school hours? There simply isn't. This is a red herring.
Some ways to resolve the problem:
--have the Syphax staff help out
--have parents, community members, and local business folks sign up to be subs

Jay Mathews had a column a while back where he highlighted one sub's assignments. (Yes, a sample size of one is just that). But it was remarkable how many assignments were due to increased time demands being placed on teachers to juggle a range of requirements from planning, admin meetings, etc. Curious if this applies here as well.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/substitute-teachers-use-less/2021/08/22/ff3d4946-0031-11ec-a664-4f6de3e17ff0_story.html

With the sub shortage persisting unfortunately, any way to decrease sub pressure while simultaneously lifting additional demands on teachers could be helpful. Of course, trying to get more community members to sign up would be best.

I’m a classroom based assistant. In the last 5 years I can think of one time my lead teacher was out for PD for more than 1 hour. You may be lumping things like IEP meetings in with that, those are not optional. In my experience at the elementary level those are the easiest things to get subs for. Meetings are all scheduled on two days and we’ve always had regulars for that, people tend to like the meeting floater jobs. (There is a large edmentum rollout this year that might drive up the PD numbers but at least at elementary level it hasn’t been an issue for my teams)

[Anonymous]

This is 100% the fault of APS. Many principals are already reaching out to the community, and then when you go to apply to become a substitute all excited to help out with the crisis, you run into a bureaucratic mess. My principal sent out an email begging for subs a few weeks before school started, I submitted by application a week later, and I was hired in November. All this for the privilege of dealing with difficult kids all day for $18 an hour.

I do very much enjoy substituting and I am happy to help, but I can only do it because im a privileged SAHM with kids in school full time who happens to have a passion for education. If they paid a lot more and were able to get the ball rolling at HR they wouldn’t leave teachers scrambling. (Of course I think they first need to pay teachers a lot more so I dunno how that would work out).

Another thing is that they haven’t done a good job of letting the public know that school-based subs (who come to school every day and just cover for whoever needs it) get benefits. If I didn’t have a chronic illness that makes it so I can’t work every day I would gun for that job since DH is self employed and our health insurance is ridiculously expensive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is 100% the fault of APS. Many principals are already reaching out to the community, and then when you go to apply to become a substitute all excited to help out with the crisis, you run into a bureaucratic mess. My principal sent out an email begging for subs a few weeks before school started, I submitted by application a week later, and I was hired in November. All this for the privilege of dealing with difficult kids all day for $18 an hour.

I do very much enjoy substituting and I am happy to help, but I can only do it because im a privileged SAHM with kids in school full time who happens to have a passion for education. If they paid a lot more and were able to get the ball rolling at HR they wouldn’t leave teachers scrambling. (Of course I think they first need to pay teachers a lot more so I dunno how that would work out).

Another thing is that they haven’t done a good job of letting the public know that school-based subs (who come to school every day and just cover for whoever needs it) get benefits. If I didn’t have a chronic illness that makes it so I can’t work every day I would gun for that job since DH is self employed and our health insurance is ridiculously expensive.

I did not know that SBS get benefits! Is that new?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is 100% the fault of APS. Many principals are already reaching out to the community, and then when you go to apply to become a substitute all excited to help out with the crisis, you run into a bureaucratic mess. My principal sent out an email begging for subs a few weeks before school started, I submitted by application a week later, and I was hired in November. All this for the privilege of dealing with difficult kids all day for $18 an hour.

I do very much enjoy substituting and I am happy to help, but I can only do it because im a privileged SAHM with kids in school full time who happens to have a passion for education. If they paid a lot more and were able to get the ball rolling at HR they wouldn’t leave teachers scrambling. (Of course I think they first need to pay teachers a lot more so I dunno how that would work out).

Another thing is that they haven’t done a good job of letting the public know that school-based subs (who come to school every day and just cover for whoever needs it) get benefits. If I didn’t have a chronic illness that makes it so I can’t work every day I would gun for that job since DH is self employed and our health insurance is ridiculously expensive.

I did not know that SBS get benefits! Is that new?

School based subs do get benefits, but they're still paid at $18.25/hour.

I'd much rather have the flexibility of subbing whenever you want (because as a SBS you WILL be needed every day, often juggling many different classrooms in a single day), or a long term sub for higher pay but no benefits.

All in all, it's a complete mess. This time last year, there were like 200-300 advance notice sub openings. This morning it's over 800.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is 100% the fault of APS. Many principals are already reaching out to the community, and then when you go to apply to become a substitute all excited to help out with the crisis, you run into a bureaucratic mess. My principal sent out an email begging for subs a few weeks before school started, I submitted by application a week later, and I was hired in November. All this for the privilege of dealing with difficult kids all day for $18 an hour.

I do very much enjoy substituting and I am happy to help, but I can only do it because im a privileged SAHM with kids in school full time who happens to have a passion for education. If they paid a lot more and were able to get the ball rolling at HR they wouldn’t leave teachers scrambling. (Of course I think they first need to pay teachers a lot more so I dunno how that would work out).

Another thing is that they haven’t done a good job of letting the public know that school-based subs (who come to school every day and just cover for whoever needs it) get benefits. If I didn’t have a chronic illness that makes it so I can’t work every day I would gun for that job since DH is self employed and our health insurance is ridiculously expensive.

I did not know that SBS get benefits! Is that new?

It has been at least a few years, but I’m not sure when it started.

It occurs to be that maybe they don’t advertise this is that there aren’t that many positions; I think each school gets two. I know they were scrambling to get some at the beginning of they year but maybe there are no openings now. Maybe giving each school three SBSs is something else APS could do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is 100% the fault of APS. Many principals are already reaching out to the community, and then when you go to apply to become a substitute all excited to help out with the crisis, you run into a bureaucratic mess. My principal sent out an email begging for subs a few weeks before school started, I submitted by application a week later, and I was hired in November. All this for the privilege of dealing with difficult kids all day for $18 an hour.

I do very much enjoy substituting and I am happy to help, but I can only do it because im a privileged SAHM with kids in school full time who happens to have a passion for education. If they paid a lot more and were able to get the ball rolling at HR they wouldn’t leave teachers scrambling. (Of course I think they first need to pay teachers a lot more so I dunno how that would work out).

Another thing is that they haven’t done a good job of letting the public know that school-based subs (who come to school every day and just cover for whoever needs it) get benefits. If I didn’t have a chronic illness that makes it so I can’t work every day I would gun for that job since DH is self employed and our health insurance is ridiculously expensive.

I did not know that SBS get benefits! Is that new?

School based subs do get benefits, but they're still paid at $18.25/hour.

I'd much rather have the flexibility of subbing whenever you want (because as a SBS you WILL be needed every day, often juggling many different classrooms in a single day), or a long term sub for higher pay but no benefits.

All in all, it's a complete mess. This time last year, there were like 200-300 advance notice sub openings. This morning it's over 800.

You’re in that position but for many of us the benefits would really move the needle. Right now we pay 3400 a month for health insurance and if I was a SBS it would be more like 1K. Plus you don’t have to do anything on days kids don’t have school and you can leave when the kids leave. Sure, this wouldn’t be attractive to everyone, but I think that it would be an easy position for APS to fill if more people knew about it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:


This is such a specific question that it's suspicious. Why are you asking?


With such an acute sub shortage. are there ways to relieve pressure? Could temporarily scaling back required PD during school hours reduce the demand for subs? It could give teachers a break temporarily as well given all the other things they're juggling. But maybe APS already does this, which was what the question related to. If PD is scheduled but it can be adjusted depending on sub availability, that's another way to relieve pressure too.
[Report Post]

What on earth makes you think there is all this PD going on during regular school hours? There simply isn't. This is a red herring.
Some ways to resolve the problem:
--have the Syphax staff help out
--have parents, community members, and local business folks sign up to be subs

Jay Mathews had a column a while back where he highlighted one sub's assignments. (Yes, a sample size of one is just that). But it was remarkable how many assignments were due to increased time demands being placed on teachers to juggle a range of requirements from planning, admin meetings, etc. Curious if this applies here as well.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/substitute-teachers-use-less/2021/08/22/ff3d4946-0031-11ec-a664-4f6de3e17ff0_story.html

With the sub shortage persisting unfortunately, any way to decrease sub pressure while simultaneously lifting additional demands on teachers could be helpful. Of course, trying to get more community members to sign up would be best.

I’m a classroom based assistant. In the last 5 years I can think of one time my lead teacher was out for PD for more than 1 hour. You may be lumping things like IEP meetings in with that, those are not optional. In my experience at the elementary level those are the easiest things to get subs for. Meetings are all scheduled on two days and we’ve always had regulars for that, people tend to like the meeting floater jobs. (There is a large edmentum rollout this year that might drive up the PD numbers but at least at elementary level it hasn’t been an issue for my teams)

Thanks, interesting to know. Has anyone looked at the overall sources of sub demand? In an ideal world, we'd have enough subs so it wouldn't matter. But given the current shortages are so great & persistent, are there ways to cut back on demand that could also benefit teachers by lightening their non-classroom responsibilities? Of course, teacher sick and personal days are a given. IEP as you note are mandatory. Maybe there's not a lot beyond that that can be scaled back. But it could be good to look at the data just in case. It might also provide a visible illustration of the myriad of responsibilities we've asked teachers to shoulder that may be contributing to stress and burnout. Of course, the best option is to continue with vigorous efforts to boost the sub supply.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is 100% the fault of APS. Many principals are already reaching out to the community, and then when you go to apply to become a substitute all excited to help out with the crisis, you run into a bureaucratic mess. My principal sent out an email begging for subs a few weeks before school started, I submitted by application a week later, and I was hired in November. All this for the privilege of dealing with difficult kids all day for $18 an hour.

I do very much enjoy substituting and I am happy to help, but I can only do it because im a privileged SAHM with kids in school full time who happens to have a passion for education. If they paid a lot more and were able to get the ball rolling at HR they wouldn’t leave teachers scrambling. (Of course I think they first need to pay teachers a lot more so I dunno how that would work out).

Another thing is that they haven’t done a good job of letting the public know that school-based subs (who come to school every day and just cover for whoever needs it) get benefits. If I didn’t have a chronic illness that makes it so I can’t work every day I would gun for that job since DH is self employed and our health insurance is ridiculously expensive.

I did not know that SBS get benefits! Is that new?

School based subs do get benefits, but they're still paid at $18.25/hour.

I'd much rather have the flexibility of subbing whenever you want (because as a SBS you WILL be needed every day, often juggling many different classrooms in a single day), or a long term sub for higher pay but no benefits.

All in all, it's a complete mess. This time last year, there were like 200-300 advance notice sub openings. This morning it's over 800.

A few years ago I was asking our school based sub why she didn’t want to make more money as an assistant, and it was because she could actually take time off whenever she needed to as a school-based sub. She didn’t get paid for the days off but it offered flexibility

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:


This is such a specific question that it's suspicious. Why are you asking?


With such an acute sub shortage. are there ways to relieve pressure? Could temporarily scaling back required PD during school hours reduce the demand for subs? It could give teachers a break temporarily as well given all the other things they're juggling. But maybe APS already does this, which was what the question related to. If PD is scheduled but it can be adjusted depending on sub availability, that's another way to relieve pressure too.
[Report Post]

What on earth makes you think there is all this PD going on during regular school hours? There simply isn't. This is a red herring.
Some ways to resolve the problem:
--have the Syphax staff help out
--have parents, community members, and local business folks sign up to be subs

Jay Mathews had a column a while back where he highlighted one sub's assignments. (Yes, a sample size of one is just that). But it was remarkable how many assignments were due to increased time demands being placed on teachers to juggle a range of requirements from planning, admin meetings, etc. Curious if this applies here as well.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/substitute-teachers-use-less/2021/08/22/ff3d4946-0031-11ec-a664-4f6de3e17ff0_story.html

With the sub shortage persisting unfortunately, any way to decrease sub pressure while simultaneously lifting additional demands on teachers could be helpful. Of course, trying to get more community members to sign up would be best.

I’m a classroom based assistant. In the last 5 years I can think of one time my lead teacher was out for PD for more than 1 hour. You may be lumping things like IEP meetings in with that, those are not optional. In my experience at the elementary level those are the easiest things to get subs for. Meetings are all scheduled on two days and we’ve always had regulars for that, people tend to like the meeting floater jobs. (There is a large edmentum rollout this year that might drive up the PD numbers but at least at elementary level it hasn’t been an issue for my teams)

Thanks, interesting to know. Has anyone looked at the overall sources of sub demand? In an ideal world, we'd have enough subs so it wouldn't matter. But given the current shortages are so great & persistent, are there ways to cut back on demand that could also benefit teachers by lightening their non-classroom responsibilities? Of course, teacher sick and personal days are a given. IEP as you note are mandatory. Maybe there's not a lot beyond that that can be scaled back. But it could be good to look at the data just in case. It might also provide a visible illustration of the myriad of responsibilities we've asked teachers to shoulder that may be contributing to stress and burnout. Of course, the best option is to continue with vigorous efforts to boost the sub supply.

At least one major cause of a vacancy is a teacher shortage. I’m not sure if that’s an easier problem to solve than the substitute shortage, but as a matter of quality education, that would be the better place to start.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:


This is such a specific question that it's suspicious. Why are you asking?


With such an acute sub shortage. are there ways to relieve pressure? Could temporarily scaling back required PD during school hours reduce the demand for subs? It could give teachers a break temporarily as well given all the other things they're juggling. But maybe APS already does this, which was what the question related to. If PD is scheduled but it can be adjusted depending on sub availability, that's another way to relieve pressure too.
[Report Post]

What on earth makes you think there is all this PD going on during regular school hours? There simply isn't. This is a red herring.
Some ways to resolve the problem:
--have the Syphax staff help out
--have parents, community members, and local business folks sign up to be subs

Jay Mathews had a column a while back where he highlighted one sub's assignments. (Yes, a sample size of one is just that). But it was remarkable how many assignments were due to increased time demands being placed on teachers to juggle a range of requirements from planning, admin meetings, etc. Curious if this applies here as well.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/substitute-teachers-use-less/2021/08/22/ff3d4946-0031-11ec-a664-4f6de3e17ff0_story.html

With the sub shortage persisting unfortunately, any way to decrease sub pressure while simultaneously lifting additional demands on teachers could be helpful. Of course, trying to get more community members to sign up would be best.

I’m a classroom based assistant. In the last 5 years I can think of one time my lead teacher was out for PD for more than 1 hour. You may be lumping things like IEP meetings in with that, those are not optional. In my experience at the elementary level those are the easiest things to get subs for. Meetings are all scheduled on two days and we’ve always had regulars for that, people tend to like the meeting floater jobs. (There is a large edmentum rollout this year that might drive up the PD numbers but at least at elementary level it hasn’t been an issue for my teams)

Thanks, interesting to know. Has anyone looked at the overall sources of sub demand? In an ideal world, we'd have enough subs so it wouldn't matter. But given the current shortages are so great & persistent, are there ways to cut back on demand that could also benefit teachers by lightening their non-classroom responsibilities? Of course, teacher sick and personal days are a given. IEP as you note are mandatory. Maybe there's not a lot beyond that that can be scaled back. But it could be good to look at the data just in case. It might also provide a visible illustration of the myriad of responsibilities we've asked teachers to shoulder that may be contributing to stress and burnout. Of course, the best option is to continue with vigorous efforts to boost the sub supply.

At least one major cause of a vacancy is a teacher shortage. I’m not sure if that’s an easier problem to solve than the substitute shortage, but as a matter of quality education, that would be the better place to start.

And yes, of course part of the teacher shortage is all the extra-classroom demand on their time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:


This is such a specific question that it's suspicious. Why are you asking?


With such an acute sub shortage. are there ways to relieve pressure? Could temporarily scaling back required PD during school hours reduce the demand for subs? It could give teachers a break temporarily as well given all the other things they're juggling. But maybe APS already does this, which was what the question related to. If PD is scheduled but it can be adjusted depending on sub availability, that's another way to relieve pressure too.
[Report Post]

What on earth makes you think there is all this PD going on during regular school hours? There simply isn't. This is a red herring.
Some ways to resolve the problem:
--have the Syphax staff help out
--have parents, community members, and local business folks sign up to be subs

Jay Mathews had a column a while back where he highlighted one sub's assignments. (Yes, a sample size of one is just that). But it was remarkable how many assignments were due to increased time demands being placed on teachers to juggle a range of requirements from planning, admin meetings, etc. Curious if this applies here as well.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/substitute-teachers-use-less/2021/08/22/ff3d4946-0031-11ec-a664-4f6de3e17ff0_story.html

With the sub shortage persisting unfortunately, any way to decrease sub pressure while simultaneously lifting additional demands on teachers could be helpful. Of course, trying to get more community members to sign up would be best.

I’m a classroom based assistant. In the last 5 years I can think of one time my lead teacher was out for PD for more than 1 hour. You may be lumping things like IEP meetings in with that, those are not optional. In my experience at the elementary level those are the easiest things to get subs for. Meetings are all scheduled on two days and we’ve always had regulars for that, people tend to like the meeting floater jobs. (There is a large edmentum rollout this year that might drive up the PD numbers but at least at elementary level it hasn’t been an issue for my teams)

Thanks, interesting to know. Has anyone looked at the overall sources of sub demand? In an ideal world, we'd have enough subs so it wouldn't matter. But given the current shortages are so great & persistent, are there ways to cut back on demand that could also benefit teachers by lightening their non-classroom responsibilities? Of course, teacher sick and personal days are a given. IEP as you note are mandatory. Maybe there's not a lot beyond that that can be scaled back. But it could be good to look at the data just in case. It might also provide a visible illustration of the myriad of responsibilities we've asked teachers to shoulder that may be contributing to stress and burnout. Of course, the best option is to continue with vigorous efforts to boost the sub supply.

In my school it would be a blip. Years ago I worked at a school and we had a pretty robust pool of subs. In the winter there were several real estate agents, in May/June we had lots of college students. This covered the illness season and the end of year stuff. I think recruiting in those areas is a great idea. Look for people in self-employed careers with slow seasons. Beef up processing in central office.