I'm so upset right now!

[KiminChicago]

I've been subbing in our school district for 5 years. Last summer the district instituted mandatory training sessions for all subs. Since the sessions were brand-new last year, everyone had to attend a 4 hour session.

I just got a letter from the district for this summer's training. There are one-hour mini-sessions for returning subs and 4 hour sessions for new subs. Well, all the one hour sessions are scheduled for July 27 and 28. Back to back days in the same week. This just happens to be the one week all summer we will be out-of-town. I called the district and explained my situation and was informed that I have no choice and will have to attend another 4 hour session in order to sub for the district. Really? My time is so worthless that I just have another 4 hours to spend sitting in an auditorium listening to things I already heard last year? I'm not getting paid to do this. I cannot believe they didn't stop to think that there might be people out of town that particular week, would it have been so hard to have the Wed. sessions one week and the Thurs. sessions another week so that everyone had a chance to attend?

This is on top of the per diem pay cut subs are taking for next year, but apparently subs are so plentiful in our district that they don't care how we're treated.....

 

[Toad_Passenger]

I've been subbing in our school district for 5 years. Last summer the district instituted mandatory training sessions for all subs. Since the sessions were brand-new last year, everyone had to attend a 4 hour session.

I just got a letter from the district for this summer's training. There are one-hour mini-sessions for returning subs and 4 hour sessions for new subs. Well, all the one hour sessions are scheduled for July 27 and 28. Back to back days in the same week. This just happens to be the one week all summer we will be out-of-town. I called the district and explained my situation and was informed that I have no choice and will have to attend another 4 hour session in order to sub for the district. Really? My time is so worthless that I just have another 4 hours to spend sitting in an auditorium listening to things I already heard last year? I'm not getting paid to do this. I cannot believe they didn't stop to think that there might be people out of town that particular week, would it have been so hard to have the Wed. sessions one week and the Thurs. sessions another week so that everyone had a chance to attend?

This is on top of the per diem pay cut subs are taking for next year, but apparently subs are so plentiful in our district that they don't care how we're treated.....

It's an unfortunate sign of the times, but there are a lot of States that are going into major budget crisis mode. Because of this, training opportunities for teachers/subs are going to be crammed into just a few sessions, pay cuts/0% contracts are going to become the "norm," and (the one that is coming to a neighboring school district next year!) NO replacements for retiring teachers. That's right, 20 teachers retired through the district and they're going to be replaced by doubling up teacher periods and adding more aides.

I'm the only one out of my close friends who is not a teacher/sub/long-term sub and they all agree that this is going to be the upcoming future of public schools in our nation. Some (after 10+ years in a District) are using their Summer off to start working on alternate certifications/degrees because they are expecting the worst.

 

[DWGal210]

I'm sorry - that stinks.

I agree with the PP..,in light of all the budget cuts, I bet that's their thought process. But still stinks for you.

 

[disykat]

apparently subs are so plentiful in our district that they don't care how we're treated.....

And here it is. Frustrating!

 

[disneyfans95]

And here it is. Frustrating!

Yup. They got enough subs, so they can make the rules. Sounds like the OP needs to go, because you got people waiting to take your spot.

 

[Cooky]

.

 

[crashbb]

It's very unlikely they could have scheduled training sessions at any time that was convenient for everyone. I would be glad that they are allowing you an alternative.

For your own sake, you better realize that public school education is in transition right now. Government budgets are not going to be what they were.

Perhaps when you are at the four hour training session, you may want to keep in mind all the teachers that have lost their jobs this year, and would be glad to get some substitute teaching time.

For what it's worth, I've put in plenty of unpaid time for work-related training, conferences, events, etc.

While I agree that it would be hard to schedule it to suit everyone, I agree that it would be more likely to suit more people if they weren't in the same week.

As much as sitting through the four hour sessions is annoying, at least it wasn't "if you don't make either session, you cannot substitute".

 

[KiminChicago]

Perhaps when you are at the four hour training session, you may want to keep in mind all the teachers that have lost their jobs this year, and would be glad to get some substitute teaching time.

Actually, what will happen in our district is all the laid-off teachers will go onto the sub roster and they'll get all the calls because they're "real" teachers and I'm just a sub. We've seen this before with retired teachers too -- some of them were working so many days and making so much money as subs that the district threatened to take away their pensions.