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Schools

Substituting Brings 'Enormous Satisfaction' For Some

People see it as a chance to "try out" the profession before going back to school.

Substituting can help some young people — and sometimes older ones — in figuring out what they want to do in life.

It's also a way for people who have retired from the profession to keep a foot in the game.

But school district officials say they haven’t eased up on what they expect from substitute teachers. 

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“It’s not babysitting,” said Patti Corum, deputy superintendent for personnel services at the Fort Zumwalt School District. “It’s not just popping a movie in, it’s learning how to manage kids.” 

Susan Hladky, assistant administrator for human resources in the Wentzville School District, said the expectations for substitutes are high.

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“We expect them to come in and to take the teacher’s lesson plan and teach what’s there,” Hladky said.

Becoming a substitute teacher isn’t an involved process. Applicants have to be certified by the Missouri Department of Elementary Education – meaning they have to file a separate application with the state. Currently certified teachers aren’t required to obtain a substitute certificate.

The requirements are a minimum of 60 semester hours of college credit. Each applicant is required to complete a background check if they are considered a new hire at a school, or are requesting a new certificate. They are also required to be fingerprinted every year.

Once certified and if their application is accepted by a school district, substitute teachers become part of a pool called on to fill in full-time teacher absences.  

Substitutes are often notified by a district sub-finder telephone system that calls them with available openings that they can accept or reject. Fort Zumwalt recently put their openings online.

Their training isn’t extensive – applicants usually receive a handbook and are required to view several films. They do receive some instruction from administrators. 

If they are accepted by a district, they compete for jobs with a pool of substitute teachers that can include retired teachers and educators. They are often called in at the last minute. The pay locally for a full-day of work ranges from $80 to $100, depending on the school district. And the kids can be mean.

Yet the people who do it often say they get enormous satisfaction.

“I love it,” said Joe St. Clair, an airline pilot has been substituting in the Wentzville School District since 2008. 

St. Clair, 42, still flies about half of each the month and tries to substitute the rest. He said working as a substitute opened his eyes to new career possibilities. He discovered he liked working with kids. He plans to get his teaching certificate. 

“I enjoy the excitement of it the challenge of it, it’s kind of hard to explain,” St. Clair said. “It’s like an addiction.”

St. Clair say teaching isn’t for everybody. Substituting isn’t a bad idea for someone thinking about becoming a teacher, said Tim McInnis, assistant superintendent at Orchard Farm. “You get the fullest exposure to a day in the life of a teacher,” McInnis said.

“Kids who don’t know you are going to test you,” St. Clair said. “They want to press all your buttons and see how you react.”

Mary Jane Aubuchon, 59, used to have that problem. She was a special education teacher for 31 years at Fort Zumwalt – 26 of them at Fort Zumwalt North High School.

“Kids are kids, they are the same if they are in this building or another,” she said.

She agrees that substituting is a good way to find out what a classroom is like. “I think the key is to get a lot of experience before you actually walk in the first day by yourself,” Aubuchon said.

She substitutes for a number of reasons. Retired teachers who substitute teach for three days a year receive payments on their medical premiums, she said.

But she comes back to keep in touch with colleagues and with new technology. She’s currently substituting long-term for a teacher at Fort Zumwalt East High School. “I came here to meet new people, and I still get a lot of energy from the students,” Aubuchon said.

Aubuchon said she still likes teaching and substituting also provides a little  money for things like airplane tickets to visit grand children. “It’s a win-win situation for me,” she said.

“The good thing about subbing is that if you don’t want to do it, you can say no,” she said.

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