A.G. Gancarski
The phrase “pre-9/11 mentality” is usually uttered as a foreign policy pejorative. Yet in Duval County, one thing that hasn’t changed since before Sept. 11, 2001 is the pay of substitute teachers, which has withstood the test of time since March of that year.
This doesn’t sit well with one group, apparently: longtime substitute teachers.
In an email this month to school board members, Mia Rogers makes the case for more moolah:
“As I consider entering my seventh year as a Substitute Teacher with Duval County, which I absolutely enjoy beyond measure, I am once again submitting my plea and that of my fellow subs who have the same sentiment.
“I implore you to seriously consider raising substitute teacher salaries in light of the fact that the negotiated contract with Duval County Schools and Kelly Educational has remained static since March of 2001, over fourteen (14) years ago, while everyone else in America has been afforded a cost of living pay increase. We are losing too many highly educated and specialized subs,” Rogers writes.
“I have personally referred many subs in the past for employment with Kelly (without monetary incentive), who have unfortunately left because they could not provide adequately for their families, in consideration of the demands of this unique field and the difficulties of gaining summer employment in order to receive a paycheck. The hiring cost and subsequent attrition rate is astounding and could be potentially prevented with just a little incentive,” Rogers writes.
An interesting argument.
This follows from a similar email plea rendered in August 2014 to Duval County School Superintendent Nikolai Vitti.
“I have been a substitute teacher for Kelly Educational Staffing (KES), contracted by DCPS and work primarily in my Mandarin community since the 2008-2009 school year. … the schools expect us to provide a seamless transition into the classroom and effectuate the Lesson Plan accordingly, entrust us with their students behind locked doors, follow school policy, perform carline, bus, walker (and extended day duty or clerical functions on early release days), and maintain order and discipline during long and short-term teacher absences.”
Beyond effectuating the lesson plan, other pressures were articulated last year, including being “called into work at a moment’s notice with or without a solid lesson plan and we must prepare ourselves daily to expect the unexpected in any given classroom situation.” As well, “substitutes DO NOT have a union, nor receive periodic classroom management or policy training, get automatic pay increases or bonuses, paid holidays/summer vacation, annual evaluations, or advancement.”
In 2014, Rogers lamented, “The ongoing challenge by DCPS/KES to place equipped substitutes in depressed regions and specific disciplines e.g. Special Ed, Foreign Lang/Music/Art/PE and the Dual Language program.”
There are those who would note that it’s hard to get full-time teachers for some of these areas.
In 2014, Vitti maintained that substitutes aren’t just underpaid in Duval: It’s statewide.
“A recent survey of Florida school districts indicates that rates currently paid to DCPS substitutes are commensurate with rates paid throughout the state of Florida. For example, in Orange County (Orlando), the rate for a substitute with a Bachelor’s Degree is $75.00 per day up to 8 hours. Kelly pays $77.00 per day (7 hours) to DCPS substitutes with a Bachelor’s Degree who meet the requisite number of substitute hours. At such time as the District’s contract with Kelly Services is renegotiated, rates paid to substitute teachers are reviewed with the possibility of revision based on the availability of funds,” Vitti wrote.
Prediction: Rogers will be able to send another email out next year on this subject.
