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| NewsSaturday, August 25, 2007 10:47 PM CDT |
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School’s location plays key role in the search for fill-ins
BLOOMINGTON — For Central Illinois school districts, filling substitute teacher positions depends a lot on location, location, location. In the Twin Cities, competition among potential substitutes often involves online job searches late at night or early in the morning before automated phone calls are made to potential fill-ins. But in rural school districts, filling a vacancy often rests in the hands of the schools rather than the job hunters. And those districts often pay top dollar to attract candidates. All districts are looking for candidates than can take more active roles in the classroom. “We don’t want them just babysitting,” said Colfax Junior-Senior High School principal Jim Campbell. Rural areas offer top dollar Frequently certified teachers and certified substitutes prefer urban jobs, so districts in outlying areas must offer premium pay. Area rural school districts pay from $5 to $15 a day more to substitute teachers than Bloomington-Normal rates. They frequently match or surpass what Chicago schools pay. The Olympia school district typically pays $85 daily for a substitute, while the Ridgeview School District in Colfax, starts at $95. By contrast, rates start at $80 in both Unit 5 and District 87. “It’s just to compete,” said Colfax Junior-Senior High School Principal Jim Campbell of the higher pay. “With gas prices, people just don’t want to come out to substitute.” Almost all districts also pay higher wages to a retired teacher, especially if he or she comes from the same district —$100 a day is common. For a longer-term leave, such as a maternity leave, pay could be as high as $187 daily, said Barry Reilly, District 87 assistant superintendent of curriculum. And the days of a principal calling around for substitute teachers in the mornings before school starts are virtually gone in Twin City public schools today. Both Bloomington’s District 87 and Unit 5 used an automated phone and electronic systems. “It’s a slick system,” said John Pye, Unit 5 assistant superintendent of operations/human resources about SubFinder. Unit 5 has about 300 subs available through its service, said Twila Eickhorst, Unit 5’s SubFinder co-coordinator. District 87’s Aesop program offers about 200 subs; rural areas generally have from 20 to 60 names on their lists. In the Twin Cities, a potential substitute may log on late at night or early in the morning when most jobs are posted. They can chose a job before the automated system starts telephoning to fill vacancies. It’s amazing how many calls come at 3 a.m. when a teacher knows she is sick or has a sick child, Eickhorst said. More responsibility Substitute teachers must have at least a bachelor’s degree, take a substitute training program at the Regional Office of Education, or be certified teachers. They also submit to police checks and fingerprinting. A modern substitute is usually comfortable working online attendance and grading systems used in many area school districts. “We probably count on the substitute teacher today more than ever to stay on what lesson the regular teacher is teaching, especially at the secondary level,” Reilly said. Substitutes today also must be able to provide instruction and “think-on-their feet” activities,” said Olympia High School Principal Lance Thurman, especially when they are filling in for block scheduling, which has 85-minute classes. That can actually be helped by the automated substitute systems. They are able to match a teacher with a specialty, such as math, to the school that has a math opening. The programs also create better communication options. Teachers can upload documents and lesson plans. They can leave online instructions. Sometimes the teacher and the sub e-mail each other. Some of the rural systems aren’t as automated because they are dealing with smaller numbers of substitutes, but they are paying a premium to get the substitutes they do. E-mail this story | Print this story | Search archives | RSS Show comments |  Hide comments | Hide comments on all stories |
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