LACK OF SUBSTITUTE

TEACHERS
BY: KELLY PILLOW

BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Site: Harrison Junior High School, Harrison, Arkansas
The school is home to all 7th, 8th, and 9th grade students in the
district

Not a large school district but the pool of substitute teachers

is marginally small in comparrison

PURPOSE OF THIS PROJECT

To identify the reasoning behind a lack

of available substitutes, and to find a
solution that makes the lives of
teachers, substitutes, and
administrators alike, much easier.

PROBLEM IDENTIFIED
The problem with the lack of substitutes is that there is
simply not enough to choose from.

Teachers are having to cover for other teachers when they

should be worrying about their own class

Makes life hard on administrative assistants to try and find a

replacement for a sick teacher

PROBLEM IDENTIFIED

RESEARCH METHODS

Simple Random Sampling

Surveys concerning a lack of
substitutes

Follow up interviews

LACK OF SUBSTITUTES SURVEY

Do you believe Harrison School District has a lack of available substitutes?
How has a lack of substitutes affected you personally?
Have you ever had to watch a class for another teacher who was absent,
and did not have a substitute?

Have you ever witnessed a principal or administrative assistant covering

for an absentee teacher?

In your opinion, how should the school district combat the lack of
available substitutes?

LACK OF SUBSTITUTES INTERVIEW

QUESTIONS
1. Do you believe the lack of substitute teachers is related to
a)
b)
c)
d)
2.

Lack of money
Lack of Awareness
Fear of the students
Other

Would it be better for the school to pay teachers to work through their
prep periods, instead of hiring substitutes?

3. Would you be open to the idea of a Block Schedule, or a Flex

Schedule similar to Pea Ridge?

4. Would the school be better off to hire full time substitute teachers?
5. Should the school offer incentive based pay for teachers to not miss
days?

RESULTS
Lack of money is main reason teachers believe there are a lack of substitutes
While the lack of substitutes has affected most teachers, they were not in
favor of working through their preparatory period

Teachers were split on the Block vs Flex schedule suggestion

92% of the focus group agreed that the district should hire full time
substitutes

The entire focus group agreed that teachers should be offered incentive
based pay for not missing school

OPTIONS
Option 1: Hire a couple of full time substitutes

Will require an increase to the payroll

Facilities and schedule remain unchanged

Option 2: Offer incentive based pay for teachers to not miss

school
Does not particularly solve the lack of substitutes problem
Pay will be different for each individual teacher which could lead to
potential arguments and unneeded controversey

BENEFITS OF HIRING FULL TIME

SUBSTITUTES
Cuts out some of the dependence on phone
based system
When the school only needs one or two subs, they no longer
have to call SubTeach USA in order to get their substitutes,
because they are already in the building.

BENEFITS OF HIRING FULL TIME

SUBSTITUTES
Makes everyone's job easier
Whether it is a teacher needing to leave, a fellow teacher who
might normally have to fill in for the teacher leaving, or an
administrative assistant trying to find someone to fill the void,
having full time substitutes on campus makes it easier on
everyone

RECOMMENDED ACTION PLAN

Based on the findings of my

research, I believe that the best
solution for this problem is for the
school to hire two(2) full-time
substitutes to work every day
whether they are needed or not

RECOMMENDED ACTION PLAN: HIRE TWO

FULL-TIME SUBSTITUTES

Cuts out the dependence on the middle man

(SubTeach)

Makes everyones job easier

You get someone in the classroom you know
you can trust

No changes need to be made to facilities or

class schedule

CRITERIA FOR RECOMMENDATION

How feasible is this?
Hiring two full-time substitutes would not be difficult at all.
The administration should go through the typical hiring process
as if they were hiring an actual teacher, which requires no
more work than usual. The benefit of simply having a viable
replacement on campus at all times makes this the ideal
answer for our problem

CRITERIA FOR RECOMMENDATION

COST:
When judging how these substitutes should be payed, I believe
that the answer is two-fold. First, since they are a full time
employee, they should be payed a fair wage so my
recommendation is this. On days the substitute works, they should
be payed a first year teachers base salary, which works out at
roughly $188 per day. On days they are not needed, they are to be
payed a regular substitutes wages which are about $65 per day

CRITERIA FOR RECOMMENDATION

How soon can this be done?

While this project can not be completed before the end of
this school year, I believe that it can be put in place beginning
in August with the next school year. Administration should go
through the same hiring process that they would with a regular
teacher, and use the same time frame so that nothing is out of
order

REMEMBER THAT IT IS ALL ABOUT THE

STUDENTS
Give them the substitute teachers they deserve