What are your overall experiences working as a substitute teacher within FCPS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I haven't called the phone number yet. Does anyone have any interesting stories to share from subbing that we might not otherwise think of?

Schedule your Tb test now, you will need proof of negative Tb to do your fingerprints. My doctor required a full office visit and physical since I hadn't been there in several months (less than a year). BUT, I had to wait until a year after my previous physical so insurance could pay for it .

I loved subbing this past year, but I got very picky as the year went on. I left my card when I would sub and also asked the teachers I subbed for to pass my name around if it was a school where I hadn't previously subbed. One school was entirely word of mouth because that teacher emailed the whole department that I was a quality sub that could teach the material. There were a few bait-and-switch situations where someone would request me and then it was only one class of my preferred subject area and the majority of another that I wasn't comfortable teaching cold, but they made it seem like it was the opposite. I would decline future requests by saying my schedule was full.

Be nice to the front office staff, even if they are a PITA and come in late (one came in 10 minutes after my report time, the same time the kids were allowed in the building, giving me zero prep time). They are the ones that will take pity on you on days when there aren't enough subs and find you one of the easier classes during the teacher's planning period (if possible, sometimes the only classes needing coverage are the nightmare ones).

Send an email at the end of the day if you want the teacher to be able to contact you to request you again. I would keep a running email as the day went on of absences, specific issues (technology, specific students), etc. The teacher may or may not reply, but they have your email address to contact you in the future. Ask another teacher if you don't know the email address for the teacher.

Introduce yourself to other adults in the room. They may be room-sharing and on their planning period, or they may be your paraprofessional and may not introduce themselves. Let them take the lead for teaching content and class rules if they are comfortable, as the IA. Some are better than others.

Wear layers. Some classrooms are really hot, some are really cold. You may need to go outside to supervise recess (elementary, middle) or PE (even if you didn't get assigned PE, you may have to during the teacher's planning period) or a fire drill.

Figure out where the bathrooms are and how to get access. Elementary and *some* middle schools provide a key that accesses bathrooms and locks your room door. Middle and high schools are hit or miss (I never got a high school key across the two high schools I worked at). You have to track down a teacher and ask them to open for you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I haven't called the phone number yet. Does anyone have any interesting stories to share from subbing that we might not otherwise think of?

Keep in mind that you can select which grade levels and subjects you want. If you don't want to sub for kindergarten or art, don't check those off on your online profile. Sub coordinators can't override those selections, either. They cannot pluck you out of 4th grade and into music if you haven't selected music as a subject you want. This is one way to prevent the bait and switch that happens at many schools.

Another thing to remember is that long term jobs are rarely worth it financially. Don't take one unless you've taught the subject previously and are well acquainted with the material because you will be overworked and severely underpaid. This is true even if you're part of a great, supportive team with wonderful admin.

Finally, subs have been underpaid pretty much forever in FCPS. Retired teachers used to have a reasonable wage before Garza did away with that, and it's still not back up to where it should be. They are now paying $45 per hour for tutors who can commit to 12 hours per week which will definitely not increase the sub pool.

I just retired and I'm thinking about subbing. Do you have a link to the tutoring info?

Emails go out every few months to staff for the past year. Contact [e-mail]. It’s before and after school tutoring.

Some of the schools are using the tutors during school hours to run intervention groups. If you're a licensed teacher/ retiree, it's much better pay than subbing although less than you'd make doing private tutoring.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I haven't called the phone number yet. Does anyone have any interesting stories to share from subbing that we might not otherwise think of?

Schedule your Tb test now, you will need proof of negative Tb to do your fingerprints. My doctor required a full office visit and physical since I hadn't been there in several months (less than a year). BUT, I had to wait until a year after my previous physical so insurance could pay for it .

DP
I completed my application and onboarding about two weeks ago. When I completed the onboarding I received an email that said I would receive another email to set up an appointment during which I’d take care of the fingerprinting and show my negative TB result. Do you recall how long it took to set up that appointment?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Off to an impressive start! After filling out myriad on line forms, sending transcripts, and getting references sent, I followed their instructions to call to schedule a sub orientation. A specific phone number was given.
After 40 minutes on hold, I hung up.

Did you get this before or after scheduling the fingerprinting? The email I received said I’d receive another email to schedule the fingerprinting but said nothing about an orientation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Off to an impressive start! After filling out myriad on line forms, sending transcripts, and getting references sent, I followed their instructions to call to schedule a sub orientation. A specific phone number was given.
After 40 minutes on hold, I hung up.

Did you get this before or after scheduling the fingerprinting? The email I received said I’d receive another email to schedule the fingerprinting but said nothing about an orientation.

It’s a very linear process, meaning that they’re not gonna have you sign up for an orientation until you’ve already passed fingerprinting and TB.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Off to an impressive start! After filling out myriad on line forms, sending transcripts, and getting references sent, I followed their instructions to call to schedule a sub orientation. A specific phone number was given.
After 40 minutes on hold, I hung up.

Did you get this before or after scheduling the fingerprinting? The email I received said I’d receive another email to schedule the fingerprinting but said nothing about an orientation.

It’s a very linear process, meaning that they’re not gonna have you sign up for an orientation until you’ve already passed fingerprinting and TB.

Understood. Thanks.
How long did you wait for them to contact you about having fingerprinting scheduled? I figure I’ll wait a couple more weeks to hear before I contact them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Off to an impressive start! After filling out myriad on line forms, sending transcripts, and getting references sent, I followed their instructions to call to schedule a sub orientation. A specific phone number was given.
After 40 minutes on hold, I hung up.

Did you get this before or after scheduling the fingerprinting? The email I received said I’d receive another email to schedule the fingerprinting but said nothing about an orientation.

It’s a very linear process, meaning that they’re not gonna have you sign up for an orientation until you’ve already passed fingerprinting and TB.

Understood. Thanks.
How long did you wait for them to contact you about having fingerprinting scheduled? I figure I’ll wait a couple more weeks to hear before I contact them.

I think they only do a handful of orientations a year. It was a month or so between the two. I received a link to join a zoom call a few days before the orientation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Off to an impressive start! After filling out myriad on line forms, sending transcripts, and getting references sent, I followed their instructions to call to schedule a sub orientation. A specific phone number was given.
After 40 minutes on hold, I hung up.

Did you get this before or after scheduling the fingerprinting? The email I received said I’d receive another email to schedule the fingerprinting but said nothing about an orientation.

Email said appointment for onboarding; fingerprinting after. TB screening needed at this session.

Increasingly unsure I want to do this, though am an experienced teacher.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Off to an impressive start! After filling out myriad on line forms, sending transcripts, and getting references sent, I followed their instructions to call to schedule a sub orientation. A specific phone number was given.
After 40 minutes on hold, I hung up.

Did you get this before or after scheduling the fingerprinting? The email I received said I’d receive another email to schedule the fingerprinting but said nothing about an orientation.

Email said appointment for onboarding; fingerprinting after. TB screening needed at this session.

Increasingly unsure I want to do this, though am an experienced teacher.

My advice, go through the process and try a job or two. You need to do something like 12 jobs to stay employed as a sub. If you don’t do that many, they remove you from the system and you can try something else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Off to an impressive start! After filling out myriad on line forms, sending transcripts, and getting references sent, I followed their instructions to call to schedule a sub orientation. A specific phone number was given.
After 40 minutes on hold, I hung up.

Did you get this before or after scheduling the fingerprinting? The email I received said I’d receive another email to schedule the fingerprinting but said nothing about an orientation.

Email said appointment for onboarding; fingerprinting after. TB screening needed at this session.

Increasingly unsure I want to do this, though am an experienced teacher.

Sorry about my confusion. I completed the first part of onboarding on the 24th and the email said now that it was done I would receive a follow-up email to schedule fingerprinting:
You have completed the first part of our Onboarding process. Your next step is to schedule an appointment to visit the Department of Human Resources to complete a fingerprinting criminal background check and present documents for verification of your eligibility to work in the United States.

You will receive an email invitation to schedule an appointment online.

So, I’m just wondering about how much time I should allow for that email. I retired in June and won’t be eligible to sub until October anyhow.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I haven't called the phone number yet. Does anyone have any interesting stories to share from subbing that we might not otherwise think of?

Schedule your Tb test now, you will need proof of negative Tb to do your fingerprints. My doctor required a full office visit and physical since I hadn't been there in several months (less than a year). BUT, I had to wait until a year after my previous physical so insurance could pay for it .

DP
I completed my application and onboarding about two weeks ago. When I completed the onboarding I received an email that said I would receive another email to set up an appointment during which I’d take care of the fingerprinting and show my negative TB result. Do you recall how long it took to set up that appointment?

I think there were appointment time slots available within a week. It took longer to find a parking space (don't park in the garage, park in the visitors' spots in front of Gatehouse) than the inside process.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I haven't called the phone number yet. Does anyone have any interesting stories to share from subbing that we might not otherwise think of?

Schedule your Tb test now, you will need proof of negative Tb to do your fingerprints. My doctor required a full office visit and physical since I hadn't been there in several months (less than a year). BUT, I had to wait until a year after my previous physical so insurance could pay for it .

DP
I completed my application and onboarding about two weeks ago. When I completed the onboarding I received an email that said I would receive another email to set up an appointment during which I’d take care of the fingerprinting and show my negative TB result. Do you recall how long it took to set up that appointment?

I think there were appointment time slots available within a week. It took longer to find a parking space (don't park in the garage, park in the visitors' spots in front of Gatehouse) than the inside process.

Did you receive an email with a link to set up that appointment or did you reach out to them?

[Anonymous]

I’m going through the process of applying. Are they keeping the extra pay they had last year for high demand days? I looked on the FCPS site and couldn’t find anything about it.

[Anonymous]

So out of curiosity I just did a SmartFind Express search for all locations, all positions starting 8/21 - 8/31

There are 221 openings throughout the County for substitutes
28 HS
26MS
160 ES

Of those openings
54 PHT Asst/attendants
26 Special Education Teachers
101 Instructional Assistants
4 Learning Disabled Teachers

I know my local elementary has at least four openings for special education and have been assigned regional support to fill the gap

I am trying to come on board full-time with FCPS in another capacity from subbing and it's been five weeks working with the HR specialist. I have no hope of starting until after Labor Day so I may take a sub job in the interim

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So out of curiosity I just did a SmartFind Express search for all locations, all positions starting 8/21 - 8/31

There are 221 openings throughout the County for substitutes
28 HS
26MS
160 ES

Of those openings
54 PHT Asst/attendants
26 Special Education Teachers
101 Instructional Assistants
4 Learning Disabled Teachers

I know my local elementary has at least four openings for special education and have been assigned regional support to fill the gap

I am trying to come on board full-time with FCPS in another capacity from subbing and it's been five weeks working with the HR specialist. I have no hope of starting until after Labor Day so I may take a sub job in the interim

I don't know that the substitute office is much faster.