Substitute Resources

Yes! Spring break is here at last (that’s April 2-6, school resumes April 9) and the honest to goodness spring weather that we all look forward to may actually arrive by the end of the month and won’t we all be happy campers then!

April marks the beginning of the end of the school-year and in the past this has meant that schools and departments are bustling to finish up last minute meetings regarding curriculum and planning which translates into many sub jobs for you good people. Be prepared for the weeks following our return from break to get progressively busier through the first week of June. By “progressively busier” we mean, if you’re available and willing, we’ll be putting you into classrooms, moving you from morning assignments to afternoon assignments across town, requesting you to teach classes out of your endorsement areas and asking you to clone yourselves (okay, we made up that last one -- we get a little giddy here in the Substitute Office when the sun shines).

When we get into these wildly busy days and weeks in April and May it becomes more and more important for you folks to pay extra attention to maintaining your calendars. Another essential responsibility is to double check your assignments in order to make certain you have all the information logged correctly in whatever method you use to record your schedules. Last month we had a huge number of substitutes “no-show” for assignments. We know how embarrassing it is for you to get calls from us asking where you are and why you weren’t at your assigned school half an hour ago. Believe us when we tell you that your embarrassment is nothing compared to the full-out panic* experienced at the school which is coping with a classroom full of students minus a teacher. Worse yet, when a substitute is a no-show and we can’t reach them and then can’t get a replacement substitute. Please, from the bottom of our hearts, review your future assignments and double check your records so that you don’t miss an assignment.
*Just a little disclaimer here: Our school staff are amazing, and handle all sorts of exciting challenges on a daily basis, so even when they are panicked; they are calm, collected and in control.

Cultural Competency
Most of us are familiar with the “golden rule,” simply put, “treating others the way that you would like to be treated.” Not only have many of us lived with this rule as a guide, but we find ourselves passing this little “tidbit” on to the young people we have contact with. Cultural Competency however, asks us to stretch this adage a little farther. Duly named the “platinum rule,” one of our elementary school students put it best: “Don’t treat others the way YOU would like to be treated. Treat them the way THEY want to be treated.” Finding this out is as simple as the phrase above…ASK THEM!

We would like to invite you to visit the Safe Schools, Healthy Students website hosted by Spokane Public Schools to learn more about this community-oriented initiative.In addition to providing up to date information about the activities and goals of the SSHS Federal grant, this is also a community bulletin board for information about youth, family, and early childhood activities and resources. Website link is www.safehealthystudents.org and they welcome your comments. The Safe Schools, Healthy Students Initiative is a collaboration between Educational Service District 101 and Spokane Public Schools and serves six school districts throughout Spokane County including Cheney, Deer Park, Medical Lake, Nine Mile, Riverside, and Spokane.

Orientations for new substitutes are held approximately twice a month. These are by invitation only for new hires, but if you’ve been on the sub list for a while and are looking for a refresher, please feel free to drop in.

The Substitute Office will be closed during Spring Break, but we will be checking our e-mail most days. We hope you return to us rested and ready to take on the world, or if not the world, at least a couple of classrooms filled with energetic kids.