Schools:

Substitutes head hundreds of classrooms

School Board member says parents should be notified when teachers are long-term fill-ins

Steve Marcus

Theo Thrower is a substitute science teacher. He says the course work isn’t all that different from the days when he was in science class.

By Emily Richmond (contact)

Saturday, Aug. 30, 2008 | 2 a.m.

Clark County School District

Nearly one of every 22 Clark County School District teachers on the first day of classes was a long-term substitute.

It amounted to 676 substitute teachers, many of whom have no specialized education in the subjects they were assigned to teach, or even a college degree.

For a school system under pressure to improve, it’s a troubling number. Research suggests that substitute teachers, particularly those who meet only the basic educational requirements, impede student achievement.

The district’s northeast region, home to some of its lowest-achieving students, had the greatest need for long-term substitutes, with 160 filling in as of Monday.

Last school year, only 27 percent of the region’s schools made “adequate yearly progress” as required by the federal No Child Left Behind law. By comparison, the southeast region, which had 77 long-term substitutes this week, had a 75 percent success rate under No Child Left Behind.

Long-term substitutes are often tapped for hard-to-fill positions in math, science and special education.

In most cases, the district is under no obligation to inform parents that a long-term substitute is assigned to their child’s class. Only campuses that receive extra federal money, known as Title I funds, to help large populations of at-risk students are required to notify parents.

That troubles Clark County School Board member Carolyn Edwards, who says parents deserve to be notified so they can closely monitor their child’s progress under a long-term substitute. At Thursday’s School Board meeting, Edwards’ colleagues agreed the policy deserves a closer look. Staff members will prepare a report outlining the current notification policy and potential effects of changes.

The mother of two district graduates, Edwards said parents with a child in a long-term substitute’s classroom need to know whether the class is progressing through the textbook, whether the teacher is getting help from a full-time colleague at the school and whether the district is providing other assistance.

“All of those things should be in place,” Edwards said. “But parents won’t have a reason to ask if they aren’t told that their kids are being taught by long-term subs.”

Theo Thrower, 39, began working as a long-term substitute last school year. He had been kicking around the idea of teaching and his wife suggested he test the waters.

He was assigned to Roy Martin Middle School, where he filled in for a reading teacher who had left after the first semester. It went well enough that Thrower decided to do it again this school year, as a science teacher.

Thrower, who has a degree in criminal justice and marketing from UNLV, spent the summer reviewing the environmental science textbook. He said he found the class focuses on concepts and facts unchanged since his days in seventh grade.

“Topography and geography, ecosystems, fault lines, earthquakes — that’s all the same,” Thrower said. “Instructional techniques change, but the Great Barrier Reef is still the Great Barrier Reef.”

Thrower’s supervisor is an assistant principal who was a science major, and he meets regularly with the science faculty to go over strategies and lesson plans.

Martin Middle School Principal Mary Hafner said a background in a particular subject doesn’t guarantee success in the classroom. “If I have someone who is high in content knowledge but can’t manage the classroom or relate to the kids, it hampers rather than helps,” she said.

While observing Thrower in the classroom, Hafner said, she realized he was a quick study on the course material, “and his manner with our children was just wonderful.”

That isn’t always the case.

At an open house at Spring Valley High School two years ago, Mary Jo Parise-Malloy met her daughter’s geometry teacher and came away impressed. She didn’t give the class more thought beyond asking her daughter about homework and test scores.

She was surprised a few months later, when, while her daughter entertained friends at home, she overheard them joking about “how much fun” their geometry teacher was. The girls said they did nothing in class and often played blackjack, Parise-Malloy told the School Board on Thursday.

Only then did Parise-Malloy learn that the teacher she met had been replaced by a long-term substitute.

“Nobody informed me that geometry was being taught by a 23-year-old who was going to college,” said Parise-Malloy, who is co-founder of Nevadans for Quality Education, a community advocacy group.

Parise-Malloy said her daughter’s academic performance suffered because of poor instruction.

Bob Gerye, Spring Valley’s principal, said he was aware of the incident Parise-Malloy detailed for the School Board but couldn’t go into detail because it was a personnel matter.

He suggested parents shouldn’t draw conclusions about long-term substitutes based on a few bad experiences.

“Most long-term subs are of very good quality,” he said.

Nevada’s educational requirements for substitutes are more rigorous than those of at least 28 states, which require no more than a GED. The state requires that substitutes have a bachelor’s degree or at least 62 college credits, with six of those credits in a field related to education. Substitutes are also fingerprinted and undergo FBI background checks.

Researchers with the Substitute Teaching Institute at Utah State University found 90 percent of public school substitutes receive little or no training — three hours or fewer — before entering a classroom. Clark County requires a day and a half of training, putting it at the top of the heap, said Geoffrey Smith, a past director of the institute.

Although the district would like to use fewer long-term substitutes, Gerye said even with the dip in growth there’s little indication the situation will improve drastically.

More focus, he said, should be on the broader trend that has left so many unfilled vacancies for science and math teachers nationwide. Science graduates choose jobs in industry over education because the starting salaries are 50 percent to 100 percent higher, he said.

“It should be a concern to everyone,” Gerye said. “There’s competition all over the country.”

Discussion: 14 comments so far…

By neiman1

8/30/08 at 6:05 a.m.

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I guess I missed it, are the substitute not qualified for the job, and if so, why are they hired for anything? Is substitute another name for unqualified baby sitter?
By MichaelGreen

8/30/08 at 8:33 a.m.

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Actually, there are qualified people working as long-term subs, but the district either won't hire them because their field doesn't interest the administration or they don't have the money to hire them because substitutes are paid less and don't get benefits. But at least this proves that "education first" actually means something. Anybody remember the Goofy Governor saying that and pushing for a constitutional amendment? What garbage.
By teacher

8/30/08 at 9:01 a.m.

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Qualifications for substituting are lesser than qualifications for full teachers.

Why are they hired? A cynic would say it's because they're cheaper. With many administrators treating teachers poorly, with a lack of funding, and with non-competitive pay, you can't fully staff the district. You may also want to ask yourself, neiman, that if many positions aren't filled by teachers, how about the ones that are? Are the teachers here the same quality as teachers in places where pay and working conditions are better?

Why are they hired? The CCSD cannot have classes full of children with no adult supervision. If the community and state will not support teachers, then the community and state will attract some poor teachers, and will attract few teachers. (Which is not to say that there aren't great teachers here, because there are. But if you're a teacher who can't get a job in another state, where are you going to look? Nevada would be one place...)

Subs do have to meet standards, but they're not as high.
By really

8/30/08 at 10:52 a.m.

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Here I am trying so hard to get a teching position with Clark County but they only are puttng subs in. I am highly quailified with over 20 years experience. I was told that they are only hiring in critical areas Math and English. I am an elective teacher in vocational Education. They would rather pay a sub than a contracted teachers with benefits. My family and I are ready to relocate from California in a hear beat!!!

I have been on interviewsed told how qualified I am and what a wonderful addition I would be but we are not hiring.

I know a number of folks in the same position as I am. What will happened next!
By really

8/30/08 at 10:55 a.m.

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Here I am trying so hard to get a teaching position with Clark County but they only are putting subs in. I am highly quailified with over 20 years experience. I was told that they are only hiring in Math and English. I am an elective teacher in vocational education. They would rather pay a sub than a contracted teacher with benefits. My family and I are ready to relocate from California in a heart beat!!!

I have been on interviews told how qualified I am and what a wonderful addition I would be but cannot get hired.

I know a number of folks in the same position as I am. What will happened next!
By momma1990

8/30/08 at 11:27 a.m.

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It is so depressing to think I am also a Highly Qualified teacher and I can't find a job either. I have a teaching application on file with CCSD, I don't understand why CCSD doesn't pull from their teacher applications for their long term subs. I have a teaching license in Nevada and I have a Substitute teacher license. Which doesn't seem to be doing me much good.

I'm sure there are plenty of us out there who would be willing to work as a Long term Sub just to get in the door. Most of us would love the opportunity to teach.

When I asked about being a long term sub, I was told by CCSD that I had to have a sub application on file. So here I am filling out the same paperwork, giving them the same information, paying them another $51 to do a background check only to have to sit back and wait when I could be teaching!!!

All this paperwork and everything getting done twice when they could have just checked across the hall and found all the same information.
Yes, they are different departments but they should consider working together to get things done. What a waste of time and money!!! Mine and CCSD!!!!
This could have all been fixed by placing one more box on the application which says
"Would you like to also apply as a substitute teacher?"

Then CCSD would have a list of teachers who would be willing to be a substitute teacher if a job is not available.
By Malvar

8/30/08 at 12:07 p.m.

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It is such a same that anyone with 62 credits in college can just step in and feel the waters. This is because there is a mentally in this nation still that teachers are not professionals.

How would you like to find out that your plumber was just a sub and he is just feeling the waters? How about your banker, or your Doctor? I can bet most of you would run if your doctor walked in and said "Hello, I'm your substitute doctor today, I think I might like to be a doctor someday so I thought I would feel the waters." Yet we are willing to take a chance on unqualified teachers walking into a classroom with our nations next leaders and let them feel the waters???

I believe Every teacher should have no less than a BA and state License and all that is required to get one! Substitute or full time!! There are so many teachers out there without jobs and as a community we are snubbing our noses at them and hiring someone who is not sure what they want to do with their life so they are feeling the waters? I say....go feel the waters with someone else kids.

Teachers deserve our respect as professional. They had to attend college for no less then 4 years, they had to do an internship of student teaching. Pass test such as the Praxis in order just to get a license. Why do we think as a society that just anyone can step in the classroom and take over, just so they can feel the waters!!!
Teachers deserve more than that!
By vsestini

8/30/08 at 5:19 p.m.

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Walt Rulffes could end this problem within days by simply eliminating the superflous positions filled by consultants and supervisory positions he created in his tenure.

Substitutes have less the the full credentials to teach in the classroom. It is absolutely ludicrous on the part of the Trustees and the administration of this district to continue this phony coverup of a needless shortage of teachers. Substitutes are paid less than teachers and without benefits...that is the reason for this critical situation.

Return 40-50 % of all administrators to the classroom and the problem will be eliminated. Its a simple job. Eliminate those positons having nothing to do with direct contact with students. What school needs a principal and 3 additional administrators and deans? If Rulffes cannot do it, then the district needs to conduct a national search for a new Superitendent that can get it done! Improve the school district...FIRE WALT RULFFES, NOW.
By ZeddyBear

8/31/08 at 10:32 a.m.

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You have to understand that CCSD gets upfront FULL salaries from the state to hire HQ and licensed teachers. But CCSD also knows that they can "pocket" that money and then turn around and hire long-term subs for these positions. Why would they do that? Well they do that because they use that "extra" money to float special projects in CCSD. This is just one way that CCSD could care less about students, parents, and teachers. Wake up people! CCSD has been doing this for decades.
By deesha88

8/31/08 at 12:27 p.m.

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I am a certified teacher working as a long term sub until my principal is given the ok to hire me. It's frustrating yes, but I can understand why the district doesn't want to hire teachers that they aren't sure they're going to need. Would you rather get hired and then fired on the 25th? It didn't take much more work to get on as a sub. They were able to use my interview and references from my teaching file. Yes I had to pay for the criminal back ground check and TB test but I would have had to do that anyways if I would have gotten hired.
By RyMan

8/31/08 at 2:28 p.m.

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Well, Clark County clearly needs more money for education. That's not a very debatable topic. But I don't think we should judge either teachers or substitutes based on isolated cases. I have had some horrible, horrible teachers in my life with lots of degrees and experience, and vice versa. I think substitutes are a valuable part of the educational system. I don't think it's being done to fill people's pockets. I think it's done from necessity. I'm pretty sure if we raised revenue in this state and allocated it towards education this would not even be an issue.
By starrynite7

9/3/08 at 4:45 p.m.

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I think we should take a look at the whole picture. Our classrooms are already over-crowded and now with the budget cuts they are just going to get larger. We could save tons of money if we checked documentation of all of our students and made sure their parents were legal citizens of the United States. We should not be educating children of parents who are in this country illegally. If we education citizens then the classrooms would be smaller, especially in Nevada. We would not need any subs for the classroom. Our money would be used for children that are going to stay in this country for more than a few months. These transient students drain our teachers and resources. Why should more money be put into ELL programs? Children should not be allowed to come to school until they are proficient in English. Their parents should pay for private schooling to bring them up to par. The United States is a dumping ground for illegals. They are criminals and we should not educate their children at the expense of our children's education.
By JCProctor

9/3/08 at 6:51 p.m.

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Among the other things I wish to commend on, what you said, starry, is pretty inflammatory. If all students were to be proficient in English before attending school, you would privatize the elementary schools, right? And if that were the case, for me, most of my grade 9 class would then not be in public education; Johnny American would be in remedial English until he can spell. But isn't an American education and an American paycheck all what the American Dream is made of? Aah, that must be it, starry, you're against the American Dream. (I'm being slightly facetious.)

Although, on the flip side of "just testing the waters," how many teachers would be lost if this didn't happen? A relative of mine -never- thought of becoming a teacher until a local school needed a Chemistry teacher. Regardless of her lack of teaching background, like Thrower says in the article, it's still the same subject matter even though teaching strategies change. My relative is now entering her third or fourth year of teaching and isn't showing signs of slowing down.

I, on the other hand, have received my highly-qualified status and am certifiable, but I don't know if teaching is for me right now. So I'm "testing the waters" and may eventually jump in. But this is just me coming from my Michigan point-of-view.
By teacherforhire

9/15/08 at 10:51 p.m.

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This is very upsetting to me. I am fully qualified with a credential and am two classes shy of an MS in Education...yet I can't get a job. I know someone who doesn't even have her degree who is teaching full-time. I've been patiently trying to go after jobs for four months now and I'm becoming bitter and angry. Here, people who aren't even qualified are in the classroom yet I have tons of ideas and experience to share yet I won't get hired. No Child Left Behind? HA!

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