Some Wake students are taught by subs. How soon should schools let parents know?
Wake County parents could find out sooner if their child is being taught by a substitute teacher because the classroom position is unfilled.
Most Wake County teaching positions are filled, but some students can go weeks or months being taught by a substitute teacher. A new policy is being considered that would require schools to notify parents if their child has been taught by a substitute teacher for two or more straight weeks.
“It’s hard sometimes to fill those positions because maybe no qualified candidates applied,” school board member Lindsay Mahaffey said at last month’s policy committee meeting. “Just letting parent know, ‘Hey, we’re looking for this, there’s an absence,’ I think is just good communication, and it shouldn’t be principal dependent.”
The policy committee, which Mahaffey chairs, will resume discussing the substitute teacher policy next week.
Wake currently leaves it up to each principal whether to notify families if a class has a long-term substitute.
Kendra Hill, Wake’s senior director of employee relations, told the policy committee on Oct. 29 that it’s her experience that principals tell parents if their child will have a substitute teacher for more than a few days. That statement drew coughs of disagreement from several school board members.
Parental notification of a substitute teacher
Last month, Hill proposed a new school board policy on substitute teachers. One section included wording that parents would be notified if their child has been taught by a substitute teacher for four or more consecutive weeks.
But the proposed notification requirement would only cover Title I schools. That’s a federal program where some schools get additional funding because they have a high number of low-income students.
“If I got a note that said, ‘Hey, your child has had a substitute in X class for a month, here’s the breaking news to you,’ I think that’s too long,” said school board member Lynn Edmonds.
Edmonds proposed a two-week notification requirement for all schools. She said it would help Wake build trust with families and the community.
“It supports that building of trust that we’re going to share with you when things aren’t the way we’d like them to be, such as having a sub for that long,” Edmonds said.
Families ask for help filling teacher vacancies
As of September, Wake had filled 98.55% of its teaching vacancies. But that still left 170 vacant teaching positions.
Several board members shared their own experiences of having a substitute teacher or having parents contact them about their child not having a permanent teacher.
“Just letting parents know on the front end stops a lot of worry and confusion on the back end,” said Mahaffey, who had to deal with a sub when one of her children’s math teachers quit earlier this school year.
School board member Toshiba Rice shared how a high school senior asked her for help finding a teacher for her English class.
“They don’t have anyone in there that’s qualified to teach them what they need right now for their English IV class,” Rice said. “It’s their last year and we know at this time students’ writing skills and everything really need to be on point because they’re getting ready to come to the real world and go into college.”
Notification that there’s a substitute teacher could allow parents to get their children extra help they need, according to Rice.
Transparency is a good thing, school board chair Chris Heagarty said, but added it’s nor easy finding job candidates for all those vacancies.
“I’m saying you can’t force people to come in and take a job,” Heagarty said.
This story was originally published November 11, 2024 at 3:33 PM.
