The local school district has proverbially pulled the chair out from underneath a particular special ed class. Two weeks ago I was called in for a two-week substitute teaching assignment. I knew there was something amiss when I discovered that there was no lesson plan, not even an emergency lesson plan most teachers are supposed to have. After talking to some administrators, I also discover that the teacher (out on maternity leave) is not coming back…at all. She is taking the rest of the school year off, then planning on becoming a stay at home mom for her new baby.
This means that the students in the special ed class have a long sequence of substitute teachers. The class is supposed to be for students who failed the English portion of the CASEE and require remedial English classes to help them graduate. Because there is no lesson plan and many of these students are of an unruly bunch (many of them are not in there because of learning disabilities, but rather behavioral problems) the previous subs simply showed movies during their time there.
You heard me. Students who are failing are getting a free ride by the school, which is simply allowing them to sit on their asses 55 minutes a day and watch movies, to get enough credits to graduate High School. When I found out many of them needed help with the exit exam, I spent my time working out of the CASEE prep workbook, to get them up-to-date on parts of speech, reading comprehension, synonyms, antonyms, idioms, etc. However, since these students were used to watching movies all day, having them do actual work was an uphill battle.
The school asked if I would be interested in working as a long-term substitute teacher for the rest of the semester. This sounded like a dream come true for me, but the truth is, I couldn’t do it- in addition to Jury Duty and a myriad of other obligations from now until June, what those students really need is a real Special Ed teacher. It bothers me that they are going to likely graduate without having to earn their diploma. I’m not mad at them, I’m mad at how lazy the institution is about dealing with the problem (how hard is it to integrate them into other special ed classes?! They need a real special ed teacher, not a string of substitutes!
For the most part, any teacher looking for work right now is suspect just on the face of it–they didn’t just graduate, so why are they looking for a teaching job NOW? If they have been looking since the fall, why haven’t they found one?
Plus, if they did start now, their prorated checks would be pathetic–two months pay spread over 5 months–not much of an incentive.
It is worth it to sacrifice a class full of kids to avoid hiring someone substandard. It’s hard to get rid of a teacher–impossible in some districts–and a bad teacher won’t just screw over one bunch, they will screw over your kids for years and years to come.
You should have taken the job. ANYTHING you did would have been good for the kids–better than what they have now–and it would have been a good labratory for you to experieriment with teaching and disciplene methods–making you a better teacher in the future.
My friend Terri worked as a sub for the first 2 years as she didnt want to go to a school system she didnt fit into. She decided to sub at as many schools in her area [boston] as she could and then to start looking for positions at the ones she felt comfortable in.
Oooooookaaaaaay. Obviously this was something that the previous teacher had thought of doing before she had the baby. Why then was this not planned for on the part of the administration? Could they not have hired an assistant to help her and then take over after she went on permanent leave? Or does that make too much sense for the state of education today?
Gah. This is exactly why I stopped subbing and decided that Public School Teaching Is Not For Me. (I’m getting my Masters so I can teach college now.)
Don’t these kids have IEP’s (Individual Education Plans)? Special ed students in my school district are required by law to have their own plans – and they have to be done before the academic year starts.
They aren’t detailed lesson plans, but at least they tell what areas the teachers are supposed to focus on.
My SIL is an EH teacher. She teaches emotionally-handicapped students.
At least in our neck of the woods, she gets absolutely no support from either the adminstration or the school board. Most of the other teachers look at her and the other special ed teachers as having light loads, probably because their classes are smaller, and extra work is given them because they have the time, right? Stuff like handling parking patrol and bus drop-off…most of the other teachers do it once a month. She and the other SE teachers were doing it once a week. Reports were requested of her, and when she asked when she was supposed to do them, she was told “during your planning period.” Funny, she thought her planning period was to, you know, plan for her classes, not write reports for administration. She was working full days on the weekends just to keep up with all that was required of her.
Her blood pressure was spiking, she had a scare a few months back (we thought she had a heart attack) and one day she was in tears because she’s spending so much time on bullshit she can’t properly teach her students.
She turned in her notice last week. She won’t be back in the classroom after the year is over. And another wonderful teacher is lost due to bureaucratic nonsense.
Not necessarily. I’ve known a couple of women who originally intended to return to work after maternity leave but changed their minds once the baby was born. They might have just thought she wanted to take this year and would be back good as new next year.
It depends on where you are. Around here teachers are competing for jobs. My sister has been out of college for a few years and has not been able to find a teaching job in the area, so she has been going out of state and even then she might be needed for a year before cutbacks bump her back out. She recently got an interview for a job in our area, she was one of the final 3 being interviewed for a second grade position and she found out they had over 150 applicants for that position. I have several friends and family members who cannot find teaching jobs.
Hiring teachers can be difficult. In my district, we had a lot of trouble filling openings in the last few years for science teachers and special ed teachers. Teachers in those fields are in demand, even here where we have a teacher surplus, and if the district doesn’t have a sterling reputation they often don’t even apply.
Even if they didn’t know that she wouldn’t be back, they should have known that she would be taking a month or two off for maternity leave at the end of the school year. I’m sure they didn’t find out she was pregnant just two weeks ago. Her leave should have been planned for.