The substitute teacher shortage: a perspective from the front line

A Spectrum; by David Baker

Imagine working in a classroom where there is one teacher and three aides. You work closely as a team to care for, instruct and supervise a group of severely impaired students. Let us say these students continuously demand a high level of care and whenever the ratio of students to staff exceeds 1 to 1, you begin to develop holes in the daily routines.

Now let's throw in a few hypothetical situations. As an aide, you have been working in the classroom for less than one year and already, you are the senior staff member. Even the teacher has less experience in the classroom. Is it getting a little hairy? Let us add a few more straws to the proverbial camel's back. The teacher gets ill and a sub is needed. Ideally, a substitute with a degree is necessary, but due to the shortage of teachers, a non-certified, non-degree holding, relatively inexperienced individual fills the position. To make it a worst-case scenario, imagine that the other two aides just happen to be sick at the same time and no subs are available for them.

With the stage set, let's raise the curtain and find out who is in charge? Surprise! It's you, and you have no degree or true credentials to support the authority that is thrust upon you by circumstance. You find yourself supervising not only the students who now outnumber you 6 to 1, but also the teacher and any other professional that graces your classroom.

Fortunately, you get through the day with the support of exceptional co-workers from other parts of the school who donate their prep or lunch times, to help provide coverage. Ironically, however, you arrive at work the following day and have to do it all over again.

This scene, although rather extreme, is a frequent occurrence in our district. In the two years that I have worked as an aide, I have found myself in that situation several times. In talking with other aides, I discovered that they, too, have been in the same uncomfortable setting.

This brings me to the point of concern. When situations like these do arise, aides are faced with the awkward position of being unofficially in charge. Like the soldier on the front lines of a war who has lost all his senior officers, the aide is forced to assume command. It is then that chaos can rear its ugly head and create potentially severe consequences for both the students and the staff.

For students with severe multiple impairments, this could entail inadequate or improper feedings, toileting, and/or medications. For students with emotional problems, their behavior may escalate far above the disruptive levels. For students who are slower than their peers, this means that they will fall further behind.

Now you have an idea of what is currently happening in the Mat-Su Borough School District.

Let's take it a step further and enter a regular classroom under similar circumstances. Suppose the teacher is out on leave and a non-certified, semi-competent substitute is thrust into a setting with 30-plus students who are only one to two years younger. Who's in charge? The sub or the 30-plus students? If I were a parent, I would be very concerned to the point of action when I became aware of these problems.

I am not pointing my finger at anyone in particular, but it is my belief that all of us, as human beings, exhibit various levels of incompetence throughout our lives. No one is exempt. That is the corridor to learning through which we all must pass.

If, as Bishop Buckle stated in the Nov. 20 Frontiersman, the Mat-Su Borough School District is losing educated, valuable subs to Anchorage because of a significant difference in pay, perhaps we could offset the necessary increase of certified substitute salary with some of the following suggestions --

We probably do not have to match the Anchorage salary dollar for dollar, because there are some inherent drawbacks associated with working in Anchorage, such as the two-hour commute. Fuel, car maintenance, weather, air quality and the increased risk of accidents are other negative factors. For those reasons, many people would rather not work in Anchorage.

Another possible option is to take steps to train aides in the basic aspects of classroom supervision and management so that when these situations do arise, they can be temporarily placed in charge with an appropriate increase in salary to match their added responsibility. Currently, many aides are already assuming those responsibilities without any official authorization, specialized training, or compensation.

Some of us already possess the necessary skills and initiative from performing triage so often that we should all be awarded honorary degrees, but that's beside the point.

The discomfort comes into play when we get into situations where we are forced to make critical decision. In the event that something goes severely wrong, liability and safety then becomes the greatest concerns. Who is held accountable for the bad decisions that we might make? If it were your child that was affected, what would you do? Who would you blame? Would you blame anyone? Everyone?

The district might also consider reducing the non-certified teacher salary rate to equal that of the non-certified support staff rate. I realize I am stepping on some toes right now, because, as it stands, our subs are currently working right alongside their in-district counterparts for considerably less pay, but let me make my point.

Currently, a non-certified sub receives more pay if he or she works as a teacher rather than as support staff. Very frequently, non-certified subs accept teaching positions with all the implied, but not fully assumed, responsibilities just so they can make a few more dollars.

Quite often, they end up just filling chair, without the necessary competence to supervise and teach. The results are such that the burden of authority then falls upon the aide.

In an even worse situation, there may be no authority when the sub teacher is alone in a classroom with 30 students who are almost the same age.

I do not claim to have the best solutions for the Mat-Su Borough School District, but I want to contribute to the ongoing dialogue, in hopes that I may inspire creative thinking in others. I also do not wish to lose the support from any of the wonderful subs who currently work for us, as a result of any misunderstanding of this opinion, so I will rephrase what I said earlier. We need all the help we can get. I simply believe that we must have competent certified teachers substituting for certified teachers.

Granted, there is likely to be some degree of incompetence whenever a new sub enters a classroom for the first time, but at least it won't be exacerbated by the lack of education or necessary training and experience.

David Baker is a an employee of the Mat-Su Borough School District as a special education aide, since 1988. He is a Wasilla-area resident.