I just assumed duties wouldn’t go away during covid. I’ve had so many duties of others dumped on me over the last 13 years. I was told it’s being part of the team.
I have had duties over the five years I’ve been subbing, but honestly I don’t think anything was really pushed on me —they were regularly scheduled for the teacher I was covering for. But then again, I teach at middle schools and high schools and high schools don’t have duty, however, I have had duties at middle schools, however usually I have seen the duty roster in advance and am prepared going in.
I am actually surprised at how seldom they call on me to do extra duty or extra jobs. I figure I am scheduled for that time, and they should use me. Instead I more often get the situation where the teacher is scheduled to do duty, and another teacher takes it!
That said, I don't ever go looking for extra work. I quietly read in the classroom or teacher lounge. But if they ask me to do something extra (bus duty, photocopies, shelve books in the library, whatever..), I feel like it's only fair and I do it with a smile. I was a classrrom teacher for many years, and I know there is always more work to be done than there is time in the day! And more adults in the car or bus line generally makes things go better.
That's one of the reasons I only sub in high school. They've never made me do idiot work. I have had schools that don't pay for the prep and take advantage of that. I don't work for those schools, anymore. Luckily, I'm not desperate.
Teacher duties did not go away with COVID, so they still have to be done. We don't, however, switch duties, so if our subs have a duty it is because it was assigned to us for that time period.
At one point during my early yrs of subbing, there was a middle skl that gave guest teachers morning cafeteria duty, and had us filing during prep period. That only lasted sooo long before district started to hear from us or experienced coverage shortage.
Yrs after- a HS with a new admin wanted us to do "security lunch duty" during our off period, this skl had 2 lunch times. Needless to say- they had a shortage of subs from there on. We don't get Prep period coverage pay either, quickly learned to stay away from those skls that take advantage. Neighboring districts do pay for prep coverage, so hopefully our district gets a clue.
It makes me wonder if these skls forget that in order to sub in CA, we have to have earned a B.A.--- so yes, guest teachers do get offended when non- teaching duties get dumped on us.
we have to have earned a B.A.--- so yes, guest teachers do get offended when non- teaching duties get dumped on us.
I have a degree and do not get offended if I have to do things like bus or car line duty, or make photocopies or whatever. Yes, these things are often done by assistants, but they are also done at times by qualified teachers, and are part of the whole teaching experience. It makes sense for the school to use the people they have hired, in whatever way they can, to help make things run smoothly.
Last edited by mkesub; 12-15-2020 at 10:49 AM..
Reason: added more info
I hate duty, but as I mainly sub high school I usually don’t have to do stuff. I will lose my prep to cover a class sometimes , and four 90 min classes is usually pretty brutal.
You are right in your experience. My guest teaching experience is different. Our district experienced a shortage of guest teachers for these and other reasons when the filing duties /security duties started happening. District had not been made aware that we were being asked to come in earlier without pay and asked to do security duty when we had not been trained. They stopped this and reached out to all guest teachers. They raised our daily rate the next year and informed us that class coverage was/is valued. Sadly, has never really recovered from that though. I work at middle/HSs.
My school pays for working the prep period, but since they don't take advantage of it (like other schools I've worked at), I don't charge for it.
Working at a school I enjoy and, believe it or not, actually look forward to going to, has made all the difference to me.
I would rather work for pennies in an environment that I enjoy than mega-bucks in a school I don't like. And believe it or not, the school I work at, now, that I enjoy the most, pays more than any other district, by far, than any other I have worked for.
And not only that, this school is mostly minority, but the students and teachers are more humble, like me, and I like that. You don't have to worry about a student complaining to the office about you.
Many years ago I subbed a lot in HS. When they started taking prep away, because not enough subs to cover, I began to only take jobs late. What I mean is, there was always a shortage for the HS, so,jobs were still in the system after school had started. When I took a job late, I then was able to at least make sure I only taught 5 periods and not six.School started at 8, and I would arrive at 9, I did this for years. Teachers were always compensated to cover a prep, we were not.
I don't mind working the prep if it is because they couldn't cover it. If it became a habit, though, I would probably start charging for it.
I think that going in late, like that, is a great idea. I'll need to remember that.
What bothered me the most, was a school I USED to work at (before covid), where the teachers took advantage of subs. The "study class" was always the last 1 1/2 hour class for each day (period number changed).
Every single time I would end up working the prep for this study class, so teachers could go home early, at the expense of the subs, because they didn't pay for the prep.
The school let this happen. The secretary must have known, but maybe admin didn't pick up on it - but *I* did. I have been a teacher, so I was able to pick up on what the teachers were doing pretty easily. I started asking the secretary, when I came in, which study class I would be covering that day,? Never failed
I know the teachers would call the secretary and ask if there was a sub to cover their study class that day.
Before someone posts anecdotal responses, I know it happened. I was probably just the only sub with enough experience to know what was obviously happening.
Wouldn't be as bad if they weren't always nightmare classes, since students spent 1 1/2 hours with nothing at all to do.
Worse, it is a waste of time for the students. They could be taking a productive class that actually counted for something.
What happened to going in after school if you missed class (or needed extra help that the rest of the students didn't need) and actually doing homework at home where they are more comfortable and not being distracted by other students.
Give the students a choice. They are smarter than they are given credit for, at least in high school.
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12-14-2020, 03:01 PM
