LM Feb 2023

trying to do long-term. Then, we told them we’re asking for your help in providing us a short-term solution. We had 35 people in the room total and signed up 20 additional substitute teachers that night. What helped was we invited the Regional Office of Education. Also that night, we had three classroom breakout sessions— one was grade school, one was junior high and one was high school. Our staff talked to them about what it looks like to be a substitute teacher and what a typical day looks like. It was very interesting and clear how much people wanted to help, but they didn’t know how to become a sub. We talked about the bachelor’s degree requirement or having the 60 hours and just tried to answer all of their questions. It sounds like one of the biggest barriers you had to overcome was educating your community on the requirements. It was that and people not knowing how great the need was and why the need is there. People didn’t know things like where the regional office is. Some people thought they had go to the high school. Like I said, having the ROE there that night to answer those questions was a tremendous help. Where was your district at pay wise for substitute teachers? Like everybody around us, we’ve had to raise the amount. We’re right in line with everyone else in our county. We bumped it up to $125 dollars per day. And then we also threw in a few extra incentives to try to help, like paying for their lunch each day.

Howmuch of an impact did it have on your district to increase your substitute teacher pool by 20? When those 20 people signed up that night, it doubled our sub pool as a school district. So now we’re no longer having to ask our teachers, who are doing an excellent job, to give up their plan period to go cover a class. Or we don’t have to pull someone from an aid position that needs to be working with the child to move over and supervise a class. That night was one of the most impactful things I’ve ever seen. We doubled our pool that night, and we have picked up probably four or five more. I feel like it has really bonded us together for a cause. Our mission the other night was basically just to share with them they don’t have to grade papers or create lesson plans. We will have everything provided for you. What we need from you is to be visible, to be accessible to supervise and just to care for our kids. I would say, first of all, the return on investment is phenomenal. It’s just making sure that you market this and get the word out. We used social media. We sent letters home to families and we pushed it out to the community. As far as takeaways, I would say get your regional office of education involved to partner with you. Make sure that you have everything ready to go, not only to answer questions, but have the paperwork in hand at tables and everything else ready to go. It makes it so much better when you can have someone from the ROE there and show them how to log into ELIS and create their login account. Being able to get registered that night was huge. I think we would have lost steam and people if they had to drive to the ROE and find additional time in their schedule. It’s not an easy process and there are a lot of fees. We even told them we’re going to pay your registration fee. We’re going to pay for your background check fee. Just come on board and be a part of our team here at Oakwood. What advice do you have for your peers?

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Q What type of supports are you providing to help new substitute teachers have success in the classroom?

As they enter into our building, we’re going to greet them. We call them guest teachers and not substitute teachers because we want them to know they’re a guest in our building, and it’s our job to be a great host and take care of them. It’s about check in and check out. It’s our teachers next door coming in during the day and supporting them.

7 LM February 2023