You'd think...

[Veronica]

that with unemployment so high there would be a plethora of substitute teachers. Apparently not! Second week in a row I have done sub plans so I could attend an all day training and no sub.

One of the sucky things about teaching - sub plans. You can't just call in sick or take a day because you feel like it. I have 103 sick days! I could take 2/3 of a school year off!

Veronica

[Pax]

I think I'd catch the imsickofwork flu and stay gone a loooong time.

[Irulan]

It's all relative. We have several universities here with education programs. There are definitely more people who want to be subs than they have room to hire.

[Veronica]

Send 'em to California - please!


Veronica

[azfiddle]

Veronica- I have almost as many sick days as you. And as retirement is getting closer, realize that I will not get that many of them paid to me - only about 1/3. But I hate being gone and writing lesson plans so I almost never take my days off.

Fortunately, we usually have subs available...

[Tri Girl]

my silly school district caps you at 60 sick days. You can't accumulate more than that. When you hit 60 sick days in the bank you lose them if you don't use them. I'm at 44. Hmmm...

[Trek420]

No sick days. If I'm sick I call in sick and I'm paid, if I do it often enough I'm fired. Most of us come to work unless "calling in dead". Which is why I'm home today with broncho pneumonea which I got from working with the bronchitis which I got from working with the cold.

But I love my job and would never kvetch about it online Currently I do get 3 weeks plus 6 days plus regular holidays plus a half day plus unpaid time if I could afford .... off. But to get the time off I have to ask for it at least 42 hours in advance. Really works out to be 72 hours. This makes taking that for emergencies such as unexpected illness impossible.

It's really tough on me because like many of us I'm generally healthy. Coworkers with ongoing conditions specifically mostly diabetese, high blood pressure wrack up the time off on FMLA. I'm not resenting them but when I try to get time off the schedule is full and mostly with people off work to treat conditions which might just might be lessened by taking a walk or two or 50.

[ny biker]

We used to get "Personal Time Off" which was for both vacation and sick days. I got 4 weeks per year, due to the fact that I've been at my job for a long time.

Last year they changed the policy, and gave us "unlimited" sick days, with the qualification that you went on short-term disability after 5 consecutive sick days and your manager could require a note from a doctor after 3 consecutive days. They also reduced our vacation time -- I still managed to qualify for 3 weeks, but many of my coworkers were cut to 2.

This year they changed the policy again, and we are limited to a total of 5 sick days per year.

As for substitute teachers, I was unemployed for almost a year back in 1998-99, and it never occurred to me to look into that. I worked temp jobs at various offices while taking classes part-time at a local university. Since I don't know anything about teaching and would rather not deal with a room full of kids, I think being a substitute would be a last resort for me as a job.

[solobiker]

I know how you feel V. I work in health care and I am the only OT in the building so I can't call in if "i feel like it". I have to plan months in advance for a day off and sometimes that does not work either. I also get to work all holidays at straight time...no time 1/2. Hope you can fine some subs for your next training day.

[Veronica]

They managed to find someone about an hour into the training.

We can request subs. I'm out so little that I really don't know very many of them. The one I do usually request has been put on special assignment. Good for her, it's regular income! Bad for me.

The training was good - it was part of this math grant that I have been participating in for the last three years. I do wish I could have gone last week when I was suppose to go. That was with the 5th, 6th and 7th grade teachers. Today was mainly with third and fourth. I like hearing from the middle school teachers and what their expectations are.

I've got mainly the same group of kids I had last year - 24 stayed with me and I got 8 new ones. They are mostly a good group of kids, love to learn, are curious and interested. They can't shut up to save their lives! I don't know what they have to talk about, but they really NEED to talk and talk and talk and talk some more! Really... can we talk?!

I gotta pour test taking strategies down their throats because it's REALLY important that we do well on the state test and they want to chitchat. Where are their priorities?

Veronica

[zoom-zoom]

I really enjoyed the 2.5 years that I subbed. Unfortunately there are so many teachers out of work in MI that they get first dibs on sub jobs, so I haven't bothered registering to do it now that DS is in school. That's how it should be, really. Makes me sad that so many quality teachers have to settle for subbing or remain unemployed. 10+ years ago the situation was reversed and there was a huge sub shortage. I could have subbed full-time, had I wanted to.

[OakLeaf]

I don't want to complain to my PT for coming to work with a cold and I don't want to get her in trouble, but I really want to write her boss. Black elderberry extract to the rescue (ta-da-da-DA-da-ta!), but I was to the point of coughing and congestion the night before Sunday's half marathon, and she was the only one I'd been in contact with who was sick...

[Koronin]

I'm also a bit surprised by the sub shortage. Although I do wonder if this has something to do with budget cuts? One of my sisters is a sub in Ohio. This year she got an assignment as a building sub. Apparently each school has maybe 2 or 3 subs assigned to them for the entire school year. So the first three teachers that need a day off any given day would get one of those three subs, then any more the principal has to call the sub coordinator to get someone into the building. Also the building subs work rather or not they are actually needed as a sub. Apparently they are assigned different duties (sometimes office work, sometimes helping a teacher, just depends) on days they are not needed as subs. So that is good for my sister.

[Pax]

Holy cow, this thread has been a kick in the "be grateful" butt! I get four weeks of vacation and 12 sick days a year. I am one lucky individual, if I'm sick I stay home, if I need a mental health day I check in with my supervisor and she says "sure, we'll see you tomorrow". Wow.

[Crankin]

We always had a building sub in the last 2 districts I worked in. But, I think what has happened is that for a good part of my teaching career, there was a teacher surplus. You had good, qualified people working as subs, in the hope it would get them a job. Sometimes you had neighborhood moms who subbed a couple of days a week. Now, and in the last few years of my career, there's a teacher shortage. Good people get jobs and not many of the unemployed want to work as a sub.
This never stopped me from taking a day. I didn't miss much school in my last few years of teaching, but I left copious plans and went. We got 10 sick days a year and 3 personal days. Our sick days accrued and you got paid at a partial rate when you retired (I quit, not retired). Hey, I used a personal day to go on my first bike tour to Vt.