School district says long-term subs number is wrong

Terry Webster

Monday, April 2, 2001 | 10:36 a.m.

The local teachers' union has exaggerated the number of students in Clark County who are being taught by long-term substitutes, a Clark County School District official says.

The Clark County Education Association released a report last week that claims that up to 6,000 students a day in the Clark County School District are being taught by subs on an ongoing basis.

That represents about 3 percent of the district's 231,000 student enrollment.

But GeorgeAnn Rice, assistant superintendent for human resources, said her records show it is not even half that much.

The teachers' union released its calculation as part of its campaign to win more state aid for education. The teachers' union arrived at the figure on substitute use by studying the district's number of teaching vacancies and people employed as long-term substitutes. It does not include daily absences for regular teaching staff.

"We figured there are 300 teachers not there on any given day," John Jasonek, executive director of the union, said. "We multiplied that by 20 students per class, and came up with 6,000."

Rice said there are only 144 long-term substitutes currently working in the district, making the estimate of students being taught by subs on a daily basis only 2,880. She added that accounts for all of the current vacancies.

Jasonek said the high number of substitute teachers may save the district money, but it costs the students in terms of quality education.

"There's no question that it's better to have someone do something they have prepared and practiced for," Jasonek said.

Permanent teachers, he said, are better qualified to evaluate student performance. "They know what to look for," Jasonek said.

Based on a projected teacher shortage of 500 for next fall, the number of substitutes used by the district could double, Jasonek said.