| Updated: 11/17/2009 1:04 pm |
Published: 11/16/2009 9:56 pm
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Substitute teachers will be another casualty of the TPS budget crisis. Eliminating substitutes is one way the district will trim an additional $1 million from its budget, following a steep drop in state funding. Fox 23’s Douglas Clark has more.
Tulsa Public Schools will now use staff and volunteers instead of paid substitute teachers.
“If children aren’t respecting the teachers, they’re not going to respect another adult who is not a teacher that comes in there and is not getting paid,” says parent Bill Norris.
Going forward, the fill-in teachers will now be administrators, other teachers pulled from their prep periods, and volunteers like parents.
When asked if he would be willing to volunteer, parent Monty Dunn responded, “When I’m not working, yes. But most of the time I’m working. So it’s kind of hard to do that when I’m working and they’re in school.”
When asked how many parents she thought would step up and watch the kids even if they’re not paid, parent Emma Norris said, “No, not with the economy the way it is, you won’t get a lot of takers on that. I would do it because I love being around kids. But you won’t get many takers on that if you’re not paying them.”
The district hopes to save between $400,000 and $500,000 between now and the rest of the year by no longer paying subs. And if they can’t find someone to fill-in, classes will be temporarily combined.
“It’s going to be out of control,” says senior Keyana Smith. “Two classes put together?”
“With so many students in a class, all of the needs might not be met as far as each student, like one-on-one time,” says parent Gary Harris.
“It will be hard on teachers to have that many students in their class,” says Monty Dunn.
The exception to the new policy will be long-term subs, filling in for a teacher who is out for an extended period. They will remain paid substitutes.
The school district says some of the administrators who will fill in are former teachers. But that is not a requirement. Volunteers need a high school diploma and training to be qualified as a substitute.
