Sometimes Jim Waybright has only 20 minutes to study and prepare for the upcoming school day.
But Waybright isn’t a frantic student cramming for that early morning exam. He’s a calm and experienced 58-year-old substitute teacher for Marietta City Schools, and every day he’s learning something new.
“I learn as much from the kids as they do from me,” Waybright said.
The retired Steelcase plant manager is one of about 350,000 substitutes teaching daily across the United States, said National Substitute Teachers Alliance President Shirley Kristen. And with the teacher daily absence rate of 10 percent to 16 percent, Kristen said there is a national shortage of substitutes.
Marietta City Schools District has a list of about 50 substitute teachers who help fill in for when any of 208 full-time teachers can’t be in class, said Director of Instruction Harry Fleming. That does not mean all 50 substitutes will be available each day.
“Any given day, some of them may be working for other school districts,” Fleming said. “It certainly has been difficult to find qualified substitute teachers.”
Fleming said the school district first searches for certified teachers to work as substitutes and then moves to possibly hire teachers with a teaching or substitute teaching permit. The recent slump in the economy has created a larger pool of teacher applicants, Fleming said. Consequently, he sees the shortage easing slightly as the pool of applicants grows.
Marietta schools use at least two to three substitutes a day. That number can rise to as many as 25 some days, especially if there’s a teacher training session.
“You scramble and look for a variety of different remedies,” Fleming said.
Principals and administrators even fill in to teach a class sometimes.
Fleming said the important mantra he stresses for substitute teachers is that they are not baby sitters.
“We have a full curriculum and proficiency test standards today and we can’t afford to lose a day of instruction,” he said. “I expect the substitute to keep that continuity of instruction to the best of their ability.”
Waybright enjoys the new challenge of being a substitute teacher.
“It keeps my skills sharp,” he said.
Waybright said most of the time teachers are good about leaving detailed lesson plans for him to follow. Sometimes, an unexpected absence can force a substitute to learn and adapt quickly.
“The kids know if you are not prepared,” Waybright said.
To keep the students on track, Waybright said he frequently relates their school work to his life experiences in Vietnam and as a Red Cross volunteer.
Keeping students busy and learning is the first goal for substitute teachers, said Irene Murphy, Jackson County, W.Va., schools director of elementary and middle education.
“If children aren’t on task, that’s when the problem comes,” Murphy said she tells her substitute teachers in training.
Murphy oversees substitute teacher orientation in part to address the shortage in the state. Recently, she advertised that anyone who has a bachelor’s degree and maintained a 2.0-grade-point average can gain a West Virginia substitute permit after 18 hours of orientation. Additional approval from the school superintendent and criminal background checks are also part of the process.
Murphy said she is training 21 substitutes from Ohio and West Virginia. The group ranges from young college students looking for a teaching career start to retired social workers seeking new experiences. Murphy said substitutes in the local area make about $85 to $100 a day. Some substitutes also gain health benefits if they serve the school for an extended period.
Murphy said the most difficult thing to teach is the diversity of students that substitutes will encounter.
“When they walk into the classroom, they have 20 to 25 students with different backgrounds,” Murphy said. “I try to give them strategies to present the same material differently.”
Even if the teacher is only there a day Murphy advises her substitutes to use name tags on students.
“When you call people by their name it draws them into their lesson,” Murphy said.
She also tells her substitutes to keep a “magic bag” of magazines, crosswords and other short lessons in case students complete a teacher’s lesson plan early.
Lisa George, 42, of Marietta, has been a substitute teacher for 10 years and said she’s experienced a variety of situations with students.
“They’ll try to get away with stuff, but if you’re firm things will go smoothly,” she said.
Currently, George is a long-term substitute life skills teacher at Marietta Middle School. She is working to become a full-time teacher and said her substitute teaching days have provided good training.
“I’ve gotten a lot of ideas from the other teachers for when I get my own classroom,” George said.
Waybright said he’s happy with just being a substitute. He works three to five days a week and can get time off to help the Red Cross, as he did in New York City after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
“It’s really the best of both worlds,” Waybright said. “My life is a lot easier than what it would be for a full-time teacher. I have a lot of respect for them.”
How to be a substitute teacher:
* In West Virginia: Teachers must have a bachelor’s degree with at least a 2.0-grade-point average and have 18 hours of training.
* In Ohio: All certified substitute teachers are chosen first. If not certified, a substitute must have a bachelor’s degree with 20 hours of extra study in a specific area with teaching or a substitute teaching permit.