THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, June 2, 1995 TAG: 9506020072
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JILL MOSSMAN, HIGH SCHOOL CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Long : 122 lines
``SUBS HAVE HARD to pronounce last names and bad hairdos.'' That's what Angela's mother tells her husband on the television show ``My So-Called Life.''
For generations, substitute teachers have gotten a bad rep and a bad rap. When students spot a sub in the teacher's seat, it seems to be a signal to start socializing. Some students do other things that normally would be frowned on - chewing gum, eating, roaming the halls . . . or worse.
But substitute teachers view their positions in a different light. They dispute their reputation as dorks and say they have to put up with a lot.
``They (the students) think she does not have as much power as a normal teacher, so they can get away with more,'' said April Davidson, a sophomore at Kempsville High in Virginia Beach.
Almost everyone has a story about a sub. They range from indignant accounts of unfairness to amusing anecdotes.
High school students interviewed for this story said that sometimes subs are overly sensitive and think that teens will purposely ``act up,'' so they are primed for trouble.
Green Run High junior Dan Ingold remembered two girls in one of his classes who angered a sub and got in trouble for it, although he's not sure it was justified.
``These two girls always sit together and talk,'' he said. ``The sub realized this and moved the two girls to opposite ends of the room. The first girl coughs out loud. Then the second girl coughs just to be disruptive. The first girl coughs out loud again.
``I think the second girl was really sick, and she coughed again. The sub thought they were both being disruptive. The first girl got a detention, but while he was writing out the slip, the second girl coughs and so she got a referral'' to the office.
Venita Taylor, a senior at Western Branch High, explains one experience that made her angry: ``We had a sub for three days. I was sitting with my group of friends and . . . the teacher told me to move to the back of the room, except there were no seats there, so I didn't move. The teacher said `OK' and writes me a referral.''
Not all misunderstandings are negative; some are even funny.
``We had this really good-looking sub, and throughout the class, one boy kept trying to make passes at her and was obviously flirting in front of her,'' said Kellam High senior Michael Culpepper. ``At the end of the class, the boy told the woman that she was the best-looking sub he had ever seen. The woman responded that her fiance had said something similar to her.
``We still joke the guy about it.''
If Mom or Dad is the sub, there is a different set of rules. Mike Steier's mother subs at Cox High School a couple of days a week. Mike, a Cox senior, said that there are advantages and disadvantages to having his mom sub. He can't get away with offenses like skipping school - ``She's always there and knows what I'm doing,'' Mike said. On the other hand, ``if I lock my keys in my car, she has spare keys and can unlock the door.''
Mike's mom, Linda Steier, who previously taught in Norfolk city schools, agrees that subbing at Cox ``is good and bad, because if he (Mike) has a problem, then I get to hear about it from all sides.''
Seeing your sub outside the classroom is something else entirely. First Colonial High sophomore Nathan Gwaltney had a mean sub once and later saw her working at Burger King. He teased her and was difficult with his order.
``I made her give me more ketchup,'' he said jokingly.
Out of control
Classroom experiences for subs range from mild pranks to total chaos. Lu Jensen, a substitute in northeastern North Carolina, once had a set of twins that tried to be each other. She wasn't fooled.
Other experiences are more violent. Linda Steier once had a student who threatened her.
Data entry operator, Keith Bare, 41, called his job working as a sub one of the most stressful jobs he's ever had. This winter, he experienced what he calls ``a riot'' in one middle school classroom.
``It's no exaggeration to say that the students were throwing books,'' Bare said. ``They refused to sit down even after the school security guard and three teachers came in and told them to do their work and cooperate . . . They dared me to call security.''
When the female security guard arrived, students mocked her abilities, Bare said.
In a similar incident at another school, Bare said that middle school students were turning over their desks, throwing paper and refusing to be seated, even after security arrived and escorted one student out of the classroom. Control wasn't established until a regular teacher came in and gave the instructions.
``I told the principal I needed better security if they wanted me to stay,'' Bare said. He has since been terminated from substitute teaching in that system.
Bare believes schools should create a boot camp atmosphere for students who are serious behavior problems for substitute teachers.
``Make them clean up or something unpleasant,'' he said. ``Make it more unpleasant for someone who doesn't want to act pleasant in school.''
Where do they come from?
Tallwood government teacher and former sub Sharon McLaughlinunderstands why some subs have problems and don't feel obligated to do much. ``The pay they give subs doesn't encourage them to do more,'' she said.
The average paycheck for a daily sub is approximately $45 a day with no benefits. Virginia Beach pays the most per day at $50 and Portsmouth pays the least of the area's largest cities - $32 - for daily subs without a degree. Long-term subs who stay in the same classroom make about $60 a day, because the job is more involved, and more if they are certified in the subject that they are teaching.
Still, some students wonder where schools find substitutes.
Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Portsmouth and Suffolk all require at least 60 college semester hours in order to work as a sub. Chesapeake requires the least amount of semester hours, 30.
School systems all offer some type of training or orientation. Virginia Beach gives a one-hour orientation. Norfolk has an orientation and an annual in-service training. Suffolk and Chesapeake have introductory orientation and Portsmouth usually has a summer seminar.
``The best subs are the people who are looking for jobs in the schools. The worst are the older ones, because they are burned out,'' McLaughlin said. ILLUSTRATION: Color staff photos by L. Todd Spencer
May Lucente answers a student's question during class at Tallwood
High School in Virginia Beach, where Lucente substitute teaches
every day.
KEYWORDS: SUBSTITUTE TEACHER by CNB