Wake parents will now learn if their child is being taught by a substitute teacher
A new policy will require Wake County parents to be notified if their child has had a substitute teacher for more than two weeks.
The Wake County school board gave final approval on Jan. 7 to a new policy that governs the use of substitute teachers. It ends the current practice where principals decide on their own when to notify parents about the use of a substitute teacher.
Under the new policy, principals will be required to notify parents when a substitute teacher is expected to or has been providing instruction for more than two weeks. The policy also requires principals at Title I schools to notify parents if their child has had a sub for four or more weeks.
“We had a pretty robust discussion last month,” school board member Lindsay Mahaffey said on Dec. 3 when the policy got initial approval. “One of the big things was the parental notification piece and wanting staff to look at that and bring it back.”
Prompt notification of parents sought
School administrators had initially only proposed providing a notification requirement for Title I schools. Title I is a federal program where some schools get additional funding because they have a high number of low-income students.
But several board members said during policy committee meetings that the notification requirement should cover all schools and should be shorter than four weeks.
Administrators said that principals should tell parents if their child will have a substitute teacher for more than a few days. But several board members said that’s not always the case.
The notification requirement comes at a time when Wake is actually in better shape than last school year in terms of staffing teaching positions. As of September, Wake had filled 98.55% of its teaching vacancies. But that still left 170 vacant teaching positions.
This story was originally published November 20, 2024 at 2:00 PM.
