NEWS & UPDATES

May 2006 News and Updates

Regular readers will recall that in the April updates we promised to keep you all busy, busy, busy throughout the month. Well, solid evidence that we are fallible after all; this April was the slowest we’ve experienced in five years. Do please accept our apologies. Several subs called plaintively asking, “What have I done?” To paraphrase that odious breakup bromide, “It’s not you, it’s us.” You guys got caught between the drop-off associated with spring break and the slowdown associated with WASL testing. We have a pretty fair track record predicting sub activity, but there have been a couple of instances this year when our predict-o-meter has steered us wrong. This was a biggie. We’ve taken the opportunity to smack the meter with our office sledgehammer (that’s our usual method of repair) and it indicates that we’ll be hopping in May, so keep your phones handy, your SubFinder calendar up-to-date and your lunch packed for a month chock-full of assignments.

Let us just apologize in advance: we’re going to set the morning call out time for 5:30 for at least the first week in May … and probably longer. Kate (fueled by an extra couple cups of high octane coffee) will be here early those mornings, so you don’t suffer alone.

A true story with a moral: A couple of months ago our partners in Human Resources contacted several substitutes regarding some important (important means vital to continuing employment) paperwork they needed to have completed. One of these substitutes had heard from “somebody” that the forms weren’t necessary and in spite of several attempted contacts by HR staff (letters, phone messages) she decided not to return them. When HR is missing required forms from an employee we have no choice but to restrict that person from work. In the case of this sub several jobs, including a potential long term assignment, had to be canceled and she ended up losing more than a month of work while they gathered the information needed for their forms. The moral of the story is: When it comes to your professional life, base your information on facts, not on hearsay harvested from a dubious grapevine.

Those same pals in Human resources wanted us to pass some information along to you with regard to subbing in vacancies. Many sub jobs will be "open" positions; and if you are in the position for a lengthy time, and the job is ultimately posted, we must follow the hiring process and, often, someone else is selected for the position due to intense competition based on qualifications and experience, or one of our in-district personnel transfers to the vacancy.

You should be aware (particularly as gasoline prices escalate) that when you accept an assignment for a teacher who is regularly scheduled at several different sites and in the normal course of a single workday you travel between two or more sites you are eligible to be reimbursed for miles traveled. Spokane Public Schools has a mileage chart with distances between all district sites calculated. These “itinerant” teachers are attached to either Elementary Art (Dave Weatherred, Elementary Music (Dave Weatherred) or Elementary PE (Karen Cowan). Simply ask the office manager for a “Local Travel Statement” fill it out and return it with a note to the appropriate department head.

Both certificated and classified jobs are regularly posted on our Employment Opportunities website. Certificated applicants who maintain an applicant file for teaching jobs and wish to be considered for educational support (non-teaching) vacancies must complete the Educational Support Application form as well as a “Request for Consideration” form available through this link: http://www.spokaneschools.org/HumanResources/EdSupport/

The hiring season is coming up soon. Please remember to let us know if you are hired outside of Spokane Public Schools so that we can remove you from our substitute mailings (and you won’t get SubFinder calls next fall). The classiest way to inform your employer (that’s us) that they have lost the opportunity to hire a top notch candidate (that’s you) is to send that employer a letter of resignation stating that you’ve been hired elsewhere. Our address is 200 N. Bernard, Spokane, WA 99201-0282.

Oh dear. We’re shaking our heads here in the sub office. Last month a substitute teacher was called in for a one week job. The teacher for whom she was subbing had the responsibility for “kitchen duty” that week. Kitchen duty, a revolving chore in that building, basically refers to tidying up the teacher’s lounge – you know, getting coffee mugs into the dishwasher, that sort of thing. Well, the teacher left a note for the sub explaining that this would be part of her week and the office manager mentioned it as well. Evidently the sub declined the privilege. Is “kitchen duty” part of teaching a class? Arguably not! On the other hand, when you work cooperatively with a group of people, one of the things they notice is whether or not you go the extra mile … if you pitch in to help the building … it’s a way of showing that you’re the kind of employee who involves themselves in the greater good of the staff. Among the major reasons teachers and principals give for restricting substitutes from their site is that the sub left the room a mess. Leaving a tidy room and taking on staff responsibilities are easy ways to make yourself look good to a school … they really do notice!

Substitute orientations for new-hires are held prior to School Board meetings twice a month. Old timers are welcome to come for the first half of the orientation, which is the informational half. The second hour is intended for newly hired substitutes to fill out paperwork.

Our last two substitute orientations are from 4:00-5:30 at 200 N. Bernard in the Administration first floor boardrooms on the following dates:

May 10, 2006 May 24, 2006

Archived Updates
March 2006
February 2006
January 2006