In most jobs, when a person is sick or has a doctor’s appointment, they simply take the day off and work continues as normal for his or her co-workers. In the education system, it’s a little different.
If a teacher has to take a day off from work, a substitute must be placed in the classroom, Lately, due to a shortage of subs, some teachers are using their planning periods to cover classes for a co-worker who is absent from work.
Not only does this cause a disruption in education for the students, it also causes issues for the teachers.
Pocahontas County Schools central office employees are looking for people interested in becoming substitutes.
Assistant superintendent and director of federal programs Terrence Beam said it is rather simple to become a substitute teacher.
“If you have a teaching certificate, then you just simply fill out the paperwork and we get you approved as a sub,” he said. “If you don’t have a teaching certificate, you have to have a four-year degree.”
Those with four-year degrees follow a process of filling out paperwork at the board office and take a test at the RESA IV office in Summersville.
“They have to set it up with RESA,” Beam said. “They do a training and they have all six counties there at one time to do that. After they take the test, it’s just a matter of a day or two that they get those results back and then we get them on the board agenda to get approved. It’s not a real drawn out process.”
The entire process is as follows:
• Complete a professional application at the board office.
• Interview with Superintendent Dr. Donald Bechtel.
• RESA IV recommendation form with the superintendent’s recommendation. The form costs $50.
• Ten hours of online training.
• Six hours classroom observation.
• Two hour course given at RESA IV on the third Monday of each month, except July.
• Background check through L1 Identity Solutions at a cost of $45.35.
• Application to West Virginia Department of Education at a cost of $35.
It will cost an applicant a total of $130.35 to complete the process. Once they are approved as substitutes, pay will begin at $121 per day worked.
Once a person is on the substitute list, they are contacted through an automated system. The list is by seniority, so the newest person is at the bottom of the list. As people are taken off the list, the new names will rise.
If someone is on the list and no longer wants to work as a substitute, he or she has to submit a written resignation to be approved by the board of education. Once it is approved, the name will be removed from the automated system.
For more information on becoming a substitute teacher, contact Beam at the board office at 304-799-4505.
Suzanne Stewart may be contacted at sastewart@pocahontastimes.com
