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Not meaning to trash / But I care

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From: Woody Duncan (wduncan_at_TeacherArtExchange)
Date: Sat Aug 04 2001 - 09:42:07 PDT

In a message dated 8/4/2001 11:20:54 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
wduncan@kc.rr.com writes:

     My point is simple. If you want quality, you have to demand
     it. What kind of sub do you get if all you require is one college
course in
     whatever ?

I received this reply: I reposted it in full /

Honey, these are not my requirements, nor is this my budget. I am only
the
principal and a brand new one at that. The pay and requirements come
from
central office. Most school systems require much less of their
subs...check
it out. *I* think that they should pay more, too...and I continue to
advocate for that. However, the reality is that a sub works
sporadically,
and you need someone who can come in at a moment's notice. Hard to find
someone with a college degree who isn't working who will do that, don't
you
think?

We do have permanent building sub positions and the requirements are
much
more stringent. However, for daily subs, it is very difficult to find
ANYONE, much less someone with a college degree, to come in one day one
week,
another day the next and maybe no days the week after that.

If a teacher is out for an extended period of time, a certified teacher
is
hired as a long-term sub. But in regular day-to-day operations, schools
try
to build a list of reliable people they can draw on. Prime candidates
are
retirees, to be honest. They may not always have a college degree, but
their
life experience often makes them excellent daily substitutes.

I posted that to the list because I desperately need people to cover
classes...the alternative is NOTHING. Your trashing it does not help
make
things better for the students.

Julie Chilton

My reply:

It was not my intent to "trash" your situation.
I was just commenting on how sad it was.
We too, are having a hard time filling all of
our teaching positions. We are an urban district
and teachers go to the suburbs first. Our state
reduced the requirements for subs (any kind)
from 4 years of college to 60 hours. I thought
that was sad as well. And I told them so, if that
is "trashing" so be it. With all of our sub problems
we each have to try harder to find competent
replacements for ourselves when we need to
be out of the classroom. Or we could just say
it's not my fault, it's just the way it is and just
call in absent and see if anyone shows up.
                                        Woody in KC 

-- 
       I'm from Kansas,  where the Legislature and BOE keep trying 
        to define the term "suitable" because our constitution requires
          the state provide a "suitable" education for all students
                      Only Kansas is flat, not the entire planet.
                       To respond to me privately via E-mail
                           click on  mailto:wduncan@kc.rr.com
           put Hey Woody on the subject line so I'll read it first
 my watercolors are at http://www.taospaint.com/WoodysPaintings.html
                visit my Web Site at http://www.taospaint.com
      this e-mail message is from Artist/Teacher Woody Duncan
               Rosedale Middle School in Kansas City, Kansas
        the URL for Rosedale is http://kancrn.kckps.k12.ks.us/rosedale
     for the newest photos of my beautiful grandkids Tim, Tess and Tiff 
                      click on http://www.taospaint.com/Ducks.html      
    
    for a virtual field trip of KC go to http://taospaint.com/VirtualTour.html
---