ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, October 9, 1996 TAG: 9610090067
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
Faced with the inability to find qualified substitutes to fill in for all absent teachers on some days, Roanoke school officials will propose higher pay for substitute teachers next year.
Roanoke pays substitutes $45 a day, the lowest rate in the region. Substitutes in other nearby localities receive $50 or more a day; Salem's pay is $58 for substitutes who have a teaching license.
Faye Pleasants, executive for human resources for Roanoke schools, told the School Board on Tuesday night that she also will recommend that a full-time teaching assistant be hired at each middle school next year to fill in for absent teachers.
The city already has a teaching assistant at each of its 21 elementary schools. Teaching assistants are available as substitutes. If the assistants are not needed to fill in for absent teachers, they are assigned other duties.
Board member John Saunders said schools should try to reduce absenteeism among teachers.
He said he is worried that the learning environment for children is being hurt by absences of regular teachers.
Roanoke requires its substitutes to have a four-year college degree, but they are not required to have a teaching license.
"If we can't reduce absenteeism, maybe we should hire more teachers with certificates who could fill in for absent teachers," Saunders said.
In addition to teaching assistants at elementary schools, the city keeps a list of about 110 substitutes, Pleasants said.
She said the substitute pool is equal to 10 percent of the city's teaching staff of about 1,000 teachers. But not all of the substitutes are available on any given day, she said.
Some people on the city's list also are substitutes for other school systems and may be working in another locality that day. Others are filling in for long-term absences. Some have agreed to teach at only certain schools or grades. And still others may just decline to work on some days because they are not under contract and can't be required to fill in for an absent teacher, she said.
To help ease the shortage, Pleasants said the city has added 22 substitutes to its list and soon will get nine more after they complete their training.
Pleasants said the teacher absences may appear to be excessive in some months, but the reasons for teachers being off the job should be examined.
In some months during the past year, the number of absences for all teachers in all schools totaled more than 800 - an average of 40 teachers a day.
Pleasants said some schools exceeded their allocated absences by a substantial margin during the past year. Those with the most excess absences included Addison and Breckinridge middle schools, and the following elementary schools: Crystal Spring, Fairview, Fallon Park, Highland Park, Monterey and Roanoke Academy for Mathematics and Science.
But Pleasants told board members they should be cautious about drawing quick conclusions about excess absences at a specific school. If teachers are on maternity leave or off for other extended periods, this adds to the absences and can give a distorted number for a school, she said.
Pleasants said there are no penalties for schools that exceed their allocated teacher absences for a month.
Several schools had fewer absences than their allocation last year. These included Patrick Henry and William Fleming high schools, Noel C. Taylor Learning Academy, Ruffner Middle School and the following elementary schools: Fishburn Park, Forest Park, Grandin Court, Huff Lane, Lincoln Terrace, Morningside, Preston Park, Round Hill, Virginia Heights and Wasena.
LENGTH: Medium: 69 linesby CNB