No Substitute for good substitute Teachers

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As I See It: There's really no substitute for good substitute teachers
By David Emanuel
Teachers - we need them and we don't have enough of them.
It's a shortage not only in this county, the 16th largest school district in the nation, but across the nation itself.And what's just as troubling is the shortage of substitute teachers out there to step in for the teachers we do have when they are out sick or on personal leave.Herein lies a Catch-22 within the Prince George's County Public Schools System.It has been brought to my attention that it is becoming more and more difficult for the schools to find substitute teachers, yet the process to get substitute teachers has apparently become discouraging.I also happened to be speaking to a retired teacher last week. For decades she put in her time with the public school system because she loved the kids, but finally it was time to retire for a number of reasons, she said, so in 2001 she called it quits.She said she let her certification lapse in 2003 because she had no intention of entering the classroom again (especially after the latest administration and upper echelon fiascoes that plagued the school system the past several years). Then recently she thought that it would be nice to spend time in the classroom again.Because of her schedule, she needed to do something where she could determine the days she would work, and it had to be close to her home.It just so happens that two elementary schools and one middle school are within walking distance of her home.She figured why not? I'll substitute in the county and go back to work for this system.So this veteran teacher, with a master's degree, went to apply to begin substitute teaching.Little did she know what she was in for.She was told by the system that she had to get an official transcript and a recommendation, as well as letters of recommendation, to which she responded that they were already all on file with the system.She got tired of all the "back and forth nonsense" as she called it, so she just gave up and threw her latest piece of mail requesting more paperwork in the trash. Not only that, but she was still told she had to reapply as though she was a brand new teacher and to "go for her certification."She said to me in disbelief, "David, I would like to know how many substitutes have a master's degree."The whole thing really did strike me as ridiculous. How could this person be turned down? (Administrators at the three schools in her neighborhood said they would hire her in a heartbeat.)The school system and CEO John Deasy say we value our teachers. But are we showing them that? I believe in our CEO. I believe he really will turn this school system around, but when you listen to veteran teachers like the one I recently spoke with, you wonder just how much value they really feel.She told me it's not for the money. It never really is. She said it was to have contact and reconnect with the kids. The school system, in her words, wrecked that. (She told me even if the school system higher-ups came to her begging on their hands and knees, she'd still tell them, "I don't think so.")And who can blame her?So what to do?On the one hand we need these substitute teachers and we need to encourage those who need part-time work to receive that training, but on the other hand, if the veterans who want to come back are being given the runaround, then what's the point?I can only hope that just as we make our teachers feel valued, we also make those who step in - and especially those who have already served in the classroom for several years - feel just as important.Otherwise, who's to say if anyone is going to be standing in front of the classroom in the future when the workload gets even heavier for those teachers who are there full time?Pretty soon we're going to need substitute substitute teachers, and if that's the case, well, I'm calling in sick because I'll be too ill to write another column on this topic.---demanuel@bladenews.com
Published 11/09/06, Copyright © 2006 The Bowie Blade