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Schools get creative to lure and retain substitute teachers
BY MEGAN REICHGOTT The Associated Press

  CHICAGO — Gone are the days when a substitute teacher might pocket only a shiny red apple as a reward.
   As students prepare to head back to classes, school districts facing staff shortages are offering even bigger incentives — from gift certificates to job training — to lure substitutes.
   With stiff competition among districts, officials know they must try harder to make spitball-dodging subs feel appreciated in what’s often a thankless job.
   “We’re locked by four or fi ve school districts around us and subs have a choice of where to go,” said Dave Kuschel, spokesman for the Maplewood, Mo., Richmond Heights School District near St. Louis, where subs get a free movie pass after 15 days of work, a $20 book store gift certificate after 20 days and a $100 bonus after 50 days. That’s on top of a daily rate of $80 to $147, depending on experience.
   “We hope that incentives will steer them in our direction,” Kuschel said.
   Every school day, about 5 million children in 274,000 classrooms have substitute teachers, said Geoffrey Smith, director of the Substitute Teaching Institute at Utah State University. And all indications are that the need is growing.
   Seventy-three percent of U.S. districts had an “immediate, urgent need” for subs that was “likely to grow to a crisis level within the next 10 years,” according to a 2003 bill that would have established a grant program to help alleviate the substitute shortage. The bill died in a U.S. House of Representatives education subcommittee.
   Some districts have chronic substitute shortages that worsen during the holidays or flu season, while others are just trying to keep up with exploding enrollment.
   In Illinois, the number of new teacher certificates has increased 6 percent per year since 2001, but the number of substitute certifi - cates has only risen 2 percent a year, according to the Illinois State Board of Education.
   The situation is so bad in two districts north of Chicago — Waukegan School District 60 and North Chicago Community Unit School District 187 — that officials there want lawmakers to lift a 90-day limit on hiring the same sub.
   Not all districts have trouble finding subs. Some, like Chicago Public Schools, have more than they need. But others have to come up with new ways to lure the highest-quality substitutes.
   So, what do most substitutes want?
   Respect from teachers and principals and the sense they’re appreciated, Smith said.
   “When we train administration, they always think the reason subs leave is pay,” Smith said. “The bottom line is they want a good working environment.”
   Marcus Wolfe has been a substitute teacher in six northern Illinois districts and last year he worked about 165 of the school year’s 180 days. He said the best incentive is a sub-friendly environment, including substitute handbooks, an expectation that teachers will provide lesson plans for subs and frequent interaction with administration and other faculty.
   “Obviously good pay helps, but that’s not the bottom-line factor,” said Wolfe, 34, of Gurnee, Ill. “If a school is not even going to bother putting together a handbook or conduct an interview, what are they saying about what they expect from their subs?”