Sacramento area school districts are reporting an increase in the number of people applying to substitute teach.
Substitutes can take home between $100 and $200 a day – nice work if you can get it during tough economic times.
"It's either directly or indirectly because of the economy," said Pat Godwin, superintendent of Folsom Cordova Unified School District. His district has seen substitute applications increase by a third this year.
Godwin said he thinks the applicants are a mix of teachers right out of college unable to find permanent positions, retired teachers supplementing their incomes, and people who have been laid off and are looking for work. For some families, substitute work offers a flexible schedule for a parent who had been staying home with the kids.
I had a very highly-educated substitute this past week. He wasn't a math major or anything but I emailed scans of the textbook to him and he was able to cover some fairly intense material with my Algebra 2 and Pre-calculus students. Subs who can teach math are difficult to find, so I got lucky. We have a retired math teacher who often subs, but he already had a job at another school when I asked if he was available.
6 comments:
Do you think teachers may be wanting to have a substitute position so that they don't have to deal with parents and NCLB standards? They could also say "no" to a difficult class and say they need that day for their family. Your opinion?
Wow, not bad. Around here, and most other places Im familiar with, substitutes get paid about $60 per day, not much higher than minimum wage. Even $100 would be a huge improvement over that, enough to bring home ~$2000 a month.
I'd say that any class in which you don't know the kids has the potential to be a difficult class.
I've met retired teachers who take up subbing because it's less stressful. After a while at the same school you get to know the kids at least a little bit. Even if you dont, though, most of the time you'll not be doing anything all that demanding.
"...who have been laid off and are looking for work"
Yep! That was me in 2004.
The daily rate down here in San Jose,CA is $120/day.
Doesn't matter whether you are a "a highly-educated substitute that can cover some fairly intense material with Algebra 2 and Pre-calculus students" or a "warm body babysitter".
Everyone is "equal" as viewed by the school district office.
We have lots of retirees who do this for extra income. As long as they don't do it every day they can still get their TRS pension. We also have lots of involuntary retirees who often teach math, science and technical courses. Unfortunately, the alternative cert programs sometimes don't prepare them for the grim reality of daily teaching. If they last out the year, it's a miracle. We have also had our share of kooks like the lady who scuttled my carefully planned program to lecture my kids on how bad she had it when she was a kid. They thought she was nuts and told me so. Right now, I would love to have a good art sub that I could count on to give intelligent assistance in class. As it is, too many of them spend their time reading magazines and drinking coffee and not much else.
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