Kevin Sporici ‘20
On any school day, students may arrive to their classes to find a sub, but the actual process of selecting and assigning one to a class begins much earlier. The school has a list of substitute teachers that is consulted when the need arises. “The way the process works is if you are a faculty member who wakes up ill, you text Ms. Shingle, and she begins calling the subs at 5:00 to 5:30 in the morning,” explains Michael Letts, Head of Upper School. “We ask if they are able to come in. Sometimes they say yes, and sometimes not. If they say no, we move to the next person on the list.”
In both the Upper and Middle Schools, subs are chosen with the intention to provide the most efficient instruction experience. Paul Sanders, Assistant Head of School explains, “Department specialty is a factor in as much as it’s achievable.”
In the cases of an extended absence, sometimes the department will step in to help cover a teacher’s classes, and other times, a long term substitute will be brought in. “We actually hire someone long term,” says Letts. “It’s still a temp-job, but we know it’s going to be, for example, four months. It’s done exactly the same way as a full time faculty member. We have agencies we collaborate with. It’s essentially a placement agency for teachers who are looking for long-term substitute positions.”
The process for hiring any substitute is a bit different from that of a full time teacher. Sanders explains, “There are a couple of different channels from which a substitute might come. Sometimes teachers in a department, or even the department chair, will know someone who knows the discipline.” He continues, “Sometimes, we have folks who work with the school in other ways. Coaches, for example, who we know are good with kids. We feel like we can trust them to convey whatever lesson plan the teacher leaves behind.”
Letts elaborated more on the process, saying, “In every instance, the teachers we use have teaching experience, they must meet with me and do an interview with me. I must approve them. They also meet with the department chair of a particular department if they have a certain expertise and they meet with Mrs. Lee, who is our hiring coordinator. They must have all of their clearances, just like any full time employee.”
Lawrence Capuzzi, Chief Financial Officer, declined to comment about the financial side of hiring subs.
Under Letts’ administration, some changes were made to the school’s policy concerning substitutes. Letts explains, “The way it used to work, a teacher would email the department and say they would be out and ask if someone can cover their blocks [and], other teachers in the department who didn’t teach would gladly fill in. The problem becomes that while it’s wonderful, it takes away time that they might need to grade papers or meet with students.”
The option arises of using a permanent substitute system as a solution in upper school like in the lower school, but this approach is imperfect. “We don’t do permanent subs in upper school. There’s lots of reasons. The main one being that in the upper school, there’s so many disciplines. So when you can, to match the discipline and the training of the substitute with the course, is more desirable,” says Sanders.
Capuzzi explains, “[it’s] expensive to have an employee that doesn’t teach full time. If you have a permanent sub, but you need a math teacher, can that permanent sub teach math? If they can, can they teach science, or English, or history. . .We’re better off having a bench of available subs so when a specific department needs filling, we can call that person.”
History and religion teacher Michael Whalen has a much more positive view on the use of permanent substitutes. Though he acknowledges the importance of Mr. Lett’s new policy, he cites consistency as the biggest issue. “[A permanent substitute system would provide] consistency for the sub to get to know students, but it also provides consistency for the students because they know that, ‘Oh, here comes Mr. Whalen. I know him and I can ask questions.’”
It does not seem likely that the Upper School will adopt a permanent substitute any time in the near future, but regardless, students can always expect class to proceed as normal.