Long Term Substitute Concerns
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Anonymous
| DD is in early elementary at a MCPS. Her teacher has been on leave since the start of the school year and it's unclear when she will return (if she returns at all). Homework seems to be a challenge for DD, but because no work has been returned yet, it's hard to know what is expected of her and how she's doing in class. I've reached out to the substitute to request advice on how to help her at home and received no useful feedback, except that she's doing "fine." Other students in DD's grade (but not class) have received lots of graded work from their teachers already but we've received nothing. I fear the substitute is not getting the support she needs to teach and monitor kids' progress effectively, but I don't feel comfortable addressing this with the principal so early in the year. Are my expectations unreasonable that we should have some understanding by now of how our kids are doing? Parent/teacher conferences are not until November. |
Anonymous
| I would ask the teacher (i.e., the substitute) for a conference. Tell her that DD is having problems with homework, and you'd like to come in and talk about this in person. Ideally, this will give you more information about DD's progress; at worst, it will give you more information about the substitute teacher. |
Anonymous
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One of my kids had a teacher like this last year. No homework ever graded, relatively little given, no feedback other than "he's doing fine." The teacher was NOT a substitute fwiw. It was really frustrating bc our child had struggled a lot in school the previous year and we had tutors in place but no sense of how things were going in the classroom. Definitely go to the teacher, and if you don't get better info or a better process, complain to the administration. I wish we had.
I should also say though, our K student has a long-term substitute since this year began and the teacher is just wonderful in every way. (I almost hate the fact that she will be leaving mid-way through the year, except that everyone raves about the regular teacher too.) The point is that I wouldn't treat it as a sub issue, but as a basic requirement to have regular feedback on your child's learning. |
Anonymous
| During your child's career in MoCo, he/she will have great teachers and not so great teachers. My child is a junior now. We've had a mix of long term subs, really bad teachers and great ones. All in all, things have worked out just fine. Unless the teachers are excruciatingly terrible, it's a great time to teach your child that not every teacher is going to be "great" and that everyone has different teaching styles and ways of interacting with students. That's life. My child now knows how to navigate through a class that is taught by someone who is less than desirable. During elementary, it sort of hurts a little more with the teacher being the sole instructor. I get that. Good luck! |
Anonymous
| OP Here: I really appreciate the perspective. I'm inclined to cut the substitute some slack and trust that a few months of less-than-optimal instruction won't kill DD. If her teacher decides not to return from leave in late November, then I will pursue my concerns with the substitute, and if I get no response, the principal. I think I just needed permission to relax a little. DD likes her substitute personally, and I do too. I'm just not sure a lot of learning is happening. Sigh. |
Anonymous
Your response seems a bit irrational. I get that you want to receive more feedback on your SO. But- you suggest that your child is getting "less-than-optimal" instruction based on what? Are you assuming she/he is not as qualified because they are a long-term sub or is it that your child doesn't bring home graded homework? Neither make sense. Different teaching styles, grading styles, ect. but as far as I know, MCPS requires certified teachers in subs and they obviously have a bit of freedom in how they instruct, being that they are not the permanent teacher, right? Cut them some slack. Your child will survive and do just fine. Kids are flexible like that. |
Anonymous
| Long term subs are not certified teachers. They have a college degree in something. If you are lucky you will get a good one! If you are unlucky you might get a recent college grad in business administration whose parents have told him to get some kind of job. And if you have a child with a disability you might wind up with someone who has no experience with special needs kids or special education. Or you might wind up with a PTA mom who is the principals favorite who wants to make some extra $$. Yes there are great well qualified long term subs. There are also many unqualified ones. |
Anonymous
| Call the principal and set up a meeting. I know a kid who had been pulled out for math and reading before the sub arrived, and the sub never knew...so the kid didn't have math or reading for four weeks. You have to be proactive. |
Anonymous
There are LTS who ARE certified teachers. I was a LTS before getting hired by MCPS. One of the teachers who retired at my school last year is now a LTS. Keep in mind that LTS are responsible for planning and grading --doubtful too many moms who want to make extra $$$ will think that 50+hours of real work a week is worth the LTS rate (a smidge above the daily sub rate) |
Anonymous
| Call the principal and state your concerns about receiving no feedback from the substitute. |
Anonymous
| Talk to other parents and see if they have similar complaints. If so, everyone should voice legitimate concerns to the principal. Several years ago our principal replaced a long term sub after enough parents raised significant issues. |
Anonymous
+1 Certified LTS here who has many years of teaching my own classroom. |
Anonymous
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My child's 3rd grade long term sub was actually a better teacher than the one that came back from maternity leave. The long term sub had a Masters in Education with many years of teaching experience under her belt. She was a retired teacher that liked the flexibility of being a substitute.
The teacher however, was very sleep deprived because of her new baby. She had a short fuse with the class and within the first month, the entire class had behavior logs (something the substitute did not find the need for). The substitute used positive reinforcements such as class jobs to encourage collaboration and good work habits whereas the teacher reverted to punishments throughout the day. The parents all wanted the long term sub to come back and let the teacher go after we saw the difference. |
Anonymous
| There are also long term subs actively trying to get an permanent position as a teacher and they work so hard hoping a principal will remember them in April. |
Anonymous
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I have a question for the certified LTS' on this thread.
I have two kids. In their recent/current ES school careers, they each had one year with a LTS. Both cases involved a pregnant regular teacher. so the situation was known before school started in September. In each instance, both of the LTS classes seemed to accumulate a more than usual collection of difficult kids, which caused problems for my kids and some of the other kids. My kids are not angels, but in every other year my kid did fine no matter the classmates or the teacher. The LTS years were terrible before the LTS and after. This is not just me saying this, but I also heard it from other teachers and parents at the school. My question is whether this was just a random bad draw of kids in LTS years or over the summer do the regular teachers put all the difficult kids in the class that one of them will only teach part of the year. In other words, the one teacher will take one for the team in a part-time year. Of course, I do wonder about why my kids were in this class both years, but the school always assured me that my kids were not causing problems  .
IS this just a conspiracy theory run amok? |