The Shawano School District plans to spend up to $7,000 on new Internet-based software that will help school personnel find substitute teachers more efficiently.
Frontline Technologies’ Aesop system provides 24-hour access, via Internet and phone, to teachers, administrators and substitute teachers.
“It is proactive system which provides teachers with time-off requests, or any other day, and enters it into software where substitutes look for jobs,” district business manager Louise Fischer said. “It will take a vast majority of this responsibility from school secretaries.”
Fischer reported district secretaries spend three to four hours per day trying to find and assist substitute teachers.
More than 3,000 school districts in the U.S. subscribe to the online web portal, according to the company’s website. Prices are based on the number of employees a district puts into the system.
Fischer said other districts she contacted gave Aesop favorable reviews.
“It’s another step in the right direction for the business office,” she said. “Other districts were happy with it.”
Here’s how the system works:
• Administrators can set up preference lists and skill sets for each position. Aesop will try to match potential substitutes with those skill sets. Administrators also can see quickly which teachers are out and who is subbing for them.
• Teachers can call or log on to Aesop to report their absences. Aesop immediately starts searching its database for an available substitute who matches the specified qualifications.
“When teachers go in and request time off, or are sick, they can attach lesson plans and class notes,” Fischer said.
• Subs can search for available assignments anytime they wish. Aesop will also call substitutes based on rules managed by the district.
• The district also can generate various reports, such as employee absenteeism, from the data, which Frontline Technologies stores but the district can access at any time.
The system could produce other cost savings, too.
“A lot of substitute teachers who sub a lot can claim unemployment compensation, and with AESOP we can run them through the database to see if they have declined jobs from us,” Fischer said. “So we can reduce costs of unemployment costs.”
The district has already sent out letters to substitute teachers requesting they register with Aesop.
Fischer noted the downside to the system is that it might be difficult to use for “older and less computer savvy” candidates or teachers.
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