The Allen County School District is looking to expand its pool of substitute teachers in the coming months. Each day in the Allen County School District, substitute teachers can be found in classrooms serving as a vital component of the education process. Personal illness, family illness, or school-rated trips or training necessitate teachers missing work, thus requiring someone to step into the classroom and fill the shoes of the teacher who is absent.
“Right now we have about 30 substitute teachers,” Allen County School Superintendent Randall Jackson explained. “Of that number, 18 work on a pretty regular schedule. Others can only work one day a week or a couple days of the week.”
Serving as a substitute teacher is a rewarding experience for the wide range of individuals currently employed for the position. Current substitutes include retired teachers, retirees from a wide-range of professional backgrounds, homemakers, and aspiring teachers looking to gain classroom experience while finishing college. Some substitutes only work on certain days while others can work any and all days.
Still, more substitute teachers are needed as evident by a recent day. Several regular teachers were scheduled to be out due to training which led to administrators lining up substitutes in advance. However, several last minute teacher absences led to a shortage of subs for the day, thus reinforcing the need for more available substitutes.
“We are looking for new substitutes to be ready to start in January,” Jackson explained. “Help is needed at all four buildings. We will have our next round of sub training late this year so that the new substitutes could start in January.”
To be a substitute teacher in Allen County, the applicant must have 64 credit hours from an accredited college or university, pass a criminal background check, and undergo training that is provided by the Allen County Board of Education.
Upon employment, the applicant is asked to indicate the school(s) they are willing to sub in and the days of each week that they can work. Once the paperwork and training is completed, the applicant is placed on a substitute teacher master list. Each school will contact substitutes and schedule the day for the substitute to work---in advance if possible. Still, substitute teachers are subject to being called early in the morning to come to work---as would be the case if a regular teacher awoke to find their child was sick and needed to go to a doctor that day.
A substitute teacher role will vary from school-to-school. Generally, the sub will be asked to follow the lesson plan for the day---lesson plans that all teachers are required to leave for a substitute teacher. The substitute teacher will find the lesson plans----including emergency lesson plans for last minute situations---rosters, classroom guidelines, and additional informational material in a substitute folder that is left for the substitute teacher coming into the classroom.
Persons interested in applying should fill out an application on-line by visiting the employment link at the Allen County School District website (www.allen.kyschools.us).