Lower standards no substitute

By Emily Richmond

Tuesday, Oct. 24, 2006 | 7:13 a.m.

A suggestion by auditors that the state lower the education requirements for substitute teachers so the Clark County School District can more easily recruit them is getting a chilly reaction from educators.

"Substitutes are not babysitters ," said Mary Ella Holloway, president of the Clark County Education Association, which represents the majority of the district's teachers. "Why would we want to lower our standards?"

Nevada requires substitute teachers to have a bachelor's degree or at least 62 hours of college credits, with at least six credits in an education-related course. The auditors don't recommend to what degree the standards should be lowered, but rather that the School District study the issue and approach state education officials with the request.

Clark County pays its substitutes between $90 and $110 a day, depending on the assignment.

For the 2005-06 academic year, the district received 4,401 substitute applications, of which 2,430 individuals met the requirements and were hired. The district also has a roster of more than 3,500 full-time teachers who have indicated they are willing to work as substitutes during the summer and session breaks at year-round schools.

The district's daily number of teacher absences fluctuates, with higher numbers reported on Fridays and Mondays, and at the end of the academic year. Last April 25 - a Tuesday chosen at random by the auditors for examination - the district had 1,564 teachers absent and was short 198 substitutes. When contacted by a school, substitutes have the option of turning down an assignment.

Substitutes might be perceived as short-term classroom instructors, just stepping in for a day or two with the intention of following the absent teacher's instruction plan to some degree and otherwise keeping order until the regular classroom teacher returns.

But some substitutes settle into a classroom for weeks or months, and see themselves every bit on par with a regular classroom teacher.

For instance, Tamara Quinlan is two months into a yearlong assignment as a special education teacher at Valley High School and feels like a "real" full timer.

"It's different from coming in for a day for a field trip or because someone has a cold," said Quinlan, who earned her bachelor's degree in family life education. "I am never referred to as a substitute by anyone here - everyone calls me a teacher."

The answer to attracting more substitutes, she says, isn't lowering the teachers' academic requirements. Instead, she suggests that the district raise the daily pay rate, offer benefits with long-term assignments and increase the number of opportunities to sign up for the mandatory training sessions. Quinlan said she had to wait five months after arriving in Las Vegas before an orientation session was scheduled.

Lina Gutierrez, director of licensed personnel for the School District, said substitutes must follow the same rules and regulations as regular teachers, and therefore the licensing guidelines should be stringent. But it's the state, not the district, that decides how strict those guidelines are, Gutierrez said.

The state legislative audit, released Oct. 12, recommends the district provide evidence that its substitute-teacher pool is too small, and that the state's educational requirements may be keeping otherwise qualified individuals from applying.

The district should then provide the report to the Nevada Commission on Professional Standards in Education, which oversees licensing requirements, and that body should make recommendations for changes to the Legislature, the audit states.

There should be an even lower threshold for substitutes working day-to-day assignments, the audit concludes.

"Often parents or people without the necessary college credits are good candidates, and can fulfill this obligation effectively because they possess a positive attitude and excellent verbal communication skills," the audit states. "This is not to suggest that substitutes do not need to be degreed, but in cases where the demand for them is as high as in Clark County School District, other qualifications should be considered." Auditors praised the district for trying to reduce the need for substitutes by rewarding employees for stellar attendance. Teachers are allowed 15 sick days per year. If five days or fewer are used, the teacher earns two days of personal leave to be used in the following year. Personal days cannot be carried over from one year to the next, but the district will buy back unused days for $90 - the same amount of money that would have gone to a substitute if the teacher had taken time off .

Substitute teachers can be given just a few hours' - or days' - notice that they are needed at a particular school or classroom, and they have the option rejecting the offer.

The need for substitutes is greatest in the district's east and northeast regions, which have more at-risk schools serving minority students. Last year, in an effort to make substitute assignments more enticing in those neighborhoods, the district set aside funding for about 200 special-assignment substitute teachers, who would agree to accept day-to-day assignments in the east and northeast regions in exchange for health benefits.

So far, the results are promising, Gutierrez said. The number of unfilled requests for substitutes in both regions is declining.

"We tell them where we need them and they can't say, 'No, I don't want to work today,' " Gutierrez said. "They have to show up for work every day, just like a regular teacher. It's turned out to be a good solution."