Should we hire subs through temp agencies?

Yes
Carlos Hicks:
Everyone wins, including students

The acquisition of dependable, competent substitute teachers has been quite a challenge for many school districts in America. Among the reasons is the fact that substitute teaching is a difficult task involving inadequate pay and no fringe benefits. Add to this a record low unemployment rate and you can easily see the difficulty the Gulfport (Miss.) School District was facing. On many days, our principals were either using a substitute with whom they were uncomfortable or they were asking staff members to forego regular duties and cover for an absent teacher. This often resulted in teachers surrendering planning time to cover for an absent peer. We did not find any of these solutions to be acceptable.

During the summer of 1997, we asked our local Kelly Services representative if Kelly had ever been asked to provide substitute teachers. Kelly Services is a Fortune 500 company that provides temporary staffing services to more than 200,000 customers worldwide. Our branch indicated that it was a new field for them, but they wanted to make a proposal. What we learned from their proposal was that Kelly had a large base of competent temporary employees, many of whom were qualified to be substitute teachers. They would also invite our qualified substitute teachers to join their pool. An enticement for our experienced substitutes was that if they worked enough hours for Kelly during the year, they would qualify for fringe benefits.

The first two and a half years of this relationship have been extremely successful. From more than 6,000 requests, Kelly has covered all but three classes, and each of these was the result of an accident on the way to school. The principal or secretary makes one call to get as many substitutes as needed rather than dozens of calls to get three or four substitutes. A substitute gets one call in the morning, rather than calls from five or six schools.

At the end of the first year, we asked all our principals and teachers to vote on the continuation of the contract. The principals were unanimous and the teachers voted 90 percent in favor of the contract. It must also be said that Kelly has developed an excellent training program and is probably training the substitutes they provide better than we were training our own substitutes.

We find this solution to a significant problem to be beneficial to teachers, administrators, the substitutes themselves--and, most importantly, our students.

Substitute teaching is just that--teaching! This can't be ignored when deciding who must make sure there are qualified substitute teachers in today's classrooms. This is not the work of "temp agencies," which do not bear the responsibility for educating our communities' children. Instead, school districts should be performing this function based on negotiated agreements (where applicable) and school board policies.

The shortage of qualified teachers and substitute teachers is the result of many converging events. Teacher salaries in many communities have not kept pace with the more lucrative career opportunities in other professions. Job opportunities and changing social expectations for women and minorities have reduced the traditional teacher candidate pool. Further, the booming economy has decreased the number of college-educated people looking for daily employment. Low pay and no benefits won't attract people to the demanding world of the substitute teacher.

Districts must realize that pawning off the substitute teacher problem to temp agencies is, in the long run, squandering a critical opportunity. School district personnel need to act decisively to create and implement strategies to attract not just today's substitute teachers but the teachers of tomorrow and the next few decades. These could include developing or expanding career ladders that support paraprofessionals as they work and earn degrees in education, hiring and mentoring entry-level interns, forming partnerships with higher education institutions, and developing curricula in secondary schools to encourage kids to consider teaching as a career.

Meanwhile, districts should be raising the per-diem rate for substitutes and recruiting aggressively. Rising numbers of teacher retirements and efforts to reduce class size mean that this problem will not be solved with the temporary fixes offered by "temp services." It's the new silver bullet theory for education--if you subcontract with a for-profit business, you'll get results. Entry into the profession should not be controlled by the lowest bidder.

This is not to say that we can't learn something from the business world. Business discovered long ago that professional autonomy, high salaries, healthy and safe work sites, a general respect by the public for the work that is being done and other factors have helped create surpluses in the legal and medical professions. Genuine market principles--not gimmicks--need to be applied to the profession of education. This is about more than who should secure sufficient numbers of daily subs. This is about who comes into the field of education, who sets the entry-level criteria and who determines when those have been met. These are the responsibilities of education professionals.

Katherine McKenna is president of the Syracuse Teachers Association/AFT.

Substitute teaching is just that--teaching! This can't be ignored when deciding who must make sure there are qualified substitute teachers in today's classrooms. This is not the work of "temp agencies," which do not bear the responsibility for educating our communities' children. Instead, school districts should be performing this function based on negotiated agreements (where applicable) and school board policies.

The shortage of qualified teachers and substitute teachers is the result of many converging events. Teacher salaries in many communities have not kept pace with the more lucrative career opportunities in other professions. Job opportunities and changing social expectations for women and minorities have reduced the traditional teacher candidate pool. Further, the booming economy has decreased the number of college-educated people looking for daily employment. Low pay and no benefits won't attract people to the demanding world of the substitute teacher.

Districts must realize that pawning off the substitute teacher problem to temp agencies is, in the long run, squandering a critical opportunity. School district personnel need to act decisively to create and implement strategies to attract not just today's substitute teachers but the teachers of tomorrow and the next few decades. These could include developing or expanding career ladders that support paraprofessionals as they work and earn degrees in education, hiring and mentoring entry-level interns, forming partnerships with higher education institutions, and developing curricula in secondary schools to encourage kids to consider teaching as a career.

Meanwhile, districts should be raising the per-diem rate for substitutes and recruiting aggressively. Rising numbers of teacher retirements and efforts to reduce class size mean that this problem will not be solved with the temporary fixes offered by "temp services." It's the new silver bullet theory for education--if you subcontract with a for-profit business, you'll get results. Entry into the profession should not be controlled by the lowest bidder.

This is not to say that we can't learn something from the business world. Business discovered long ago that professional autonomy, high salaries, healthy and safe work sites, a general respect by the public for the work that is being done and other factors have helped create surpluses in the legal and medical professions. Genuine market principles--not gimmicks--need to be applied to the profession of education. This is about more than who should secure sufficient numbers of daily subs. This is about who comes into the field of education, who sets the entry-level criteria and who determines when those have been met. These are the responsibilities of education professionals.

American Federation of Teachers, AFL•CIO - 555 New Jersey Avenue, NW - Washington, DC 20001