Officials in Colorado Springs School District 11 are holding formal discussions with substitute teachers in hopes of resolving several issues – from low pay to classroom liability – that subs have raised for nearly a year.
The top issue for subs is salary, said Dave Schenkel, the district’s human resources director and overseer of a committee formed this summer to discuss substitute-teacher issues.
The subs are paid $80 a day, a $5 increase from last year, but get no benefits, Schenkel said.
He said District 11 uses about 150 substitutes daily.
Other issues revolve around simply wanting more respect, he said. Some substitutes want a system in which they could defend themselves if they have problems at a school and are asked not to return, said Herb Weinberg, a sub who said he was thrown out of a district school when he tried to confront a principal about his dismissal.
He is leading an effort to increase substitutes’ rights.
Schenkel said talks have produced some changes. In some schools, officials have honored a request by subs that they be called “guest” teachers. The district has also allowed substitutes to participate in staff- development training for free, he said.
Sue Raabe, a substitute teacher, said she’s concerned about liability.
“With the way things are nowadays, with people walking in your classroom and shooting everybody, … are they going to sue the substitute?” she said.
Deborah Fallin, spokeswoman for the Colorado Education Association teachers union, said subs can join the CEA and get liability benefits. But the union doesn’t bargain for substitutes.
District board member Eric Christen said he is open to discussing various options, including whether substitutes should be formally recognized as a group or “if they need to be unionized.”
Staff writer Karen Rouse can be reached at 303-954-1684 or krouse@denverpost.com.
