The Shawano School Board received a mixed bag of results Aug. 12 when it heard an oral report at the six-month mark of its partnership with Teachers on Call, a company that helps find substitutes when teachers and other staff are absent.
In the past school year, the Shawano School District had 3,836 absences from teachers and paraprofessionals, an average of 427 per month or 22 spots to fill per day. The district’s highest month was in May, when there were 551 absences.
However, 44% of the absences were from staff vacancies. At the time of the report, a dozen vacant teacher positions and five more paraprofessional positions were unfilled, which means that if they’re not filled by the time school starts on Sept. 3, they will be need to be manned by long-term substitutes.
“If we have a lot of open positions that the district wasn’t able to fill, that makes filling absences more difficult,” said Traci Schutt, Shawano’s representative with Teachers on Call.
Prior to Teachers on Call starting in February, the district had substitute fill rates ranging from 79% to 91%, with existing staff filling in when subs could not be procured. In March, the company was only able to fill 72% of the absences, 74% in April and 70% in May.
About 39% of the absences were requested the day of or 24 hours before the absence took place, with 187 taking place after school officially started for the day. A survey Teachers on Call did with its subs shows they prefer to pick up assignments at least the week of the absence, with two out of three preferring to get their assignments one to two weeks in advance.
“We find that a lot of subs don’t want to work at the last minute,” Schutt said. “You guys have a lot of retired subs that work for you that don’t want a last-minute assignment. They’ve got plans for the day or whatever it is.”
The good news is that the substitute pool is getting back to where it was before Teachers on Call took over. Only 28 substitutes transitioned to Teachers on Call, while another 19 opted not to continue. Since then, the company has brought the substitute pool back up to 42, with the hopes of having 45 by Sept. 1 and 50 by Oct. 1.
Hiring teachers for Shawano is easier, with the district paying substitutes $150 per day for short-term help and $230.85 for long-term help. Districts of similar size pay $140 per day short-term but bump it to $200 if they’re retired. For long-term help, the average pay is $200 per day.
Getting paraprofessionals is harder, as the pay is $13 per hour in Shawano, and $13.50 if those paraprofessionals have to substitute long-term. Comparable school districts pay $15.56 per hour for paraprofessionals, $16.53 if they’re serving as aides in special education classrooms and $16.34 if they’re subbing long-term. The Teachers on Call survey shows 25% of substitutes are not happy with the pay.
There’s also difficulty in finding substitutes depending on which school the assignment is located. Shawano Community High School received a 5 out of 5 rating, but Shawano Community Middle School’s rating was at 2.33, according to the Teachers on Call survey. Olga Brener Intermediate School did a little better at 2.8, while Hillcrest Primary School ranked at 3.5.
Between February and the end of May, Teachers on Call was able to fill 54% of the SCHS absences that weren’t long-term vacancies, but only 14% at SCMS.
Schutt recommended that the district look at why some subs are dissatisfied with working at Shawano public schools and questioned why the local district requires drug testing for substitutes when other school districts don’t have that requirement. She also recommended administrators check on subs during the day to see if everything is all right, and that teachers should file lesson plans online in a program called Frontline.
Schutt also said subs surveyed would prefer being contacted by school officials for assignments and not employees from Teachers on Call.
Board member Bobbi Lemerond questioned the need for Teachers on Call if district staff is still required to contact subs to fill positions.
“If we’re supposed to be recommending them to take all this stuff on themselves, why do we need you?” Lemerond said.
Schutt pointed out at Teachers on Call’s main focus is finding available subs that could work in the area, but that doesn’t mean the district doesn’t have any involvement.
“We’re finding subs for you, right, but we can’t force those subs to work,” Schutt said.
lpulaski@newmedia-wi.com
Categories
