Gentry looks to SubTeach

Company to provide substitute teachers

— School board members unanimously approved using an organization called SubTeach USA to provide substitute teachers in the district during the 2012-2013 school year.

The district chose to enter into a contract with the third-party provider because the number of substituteteachers, though it may start out at 40 to 50 at the beginning of the school year, often drops to about 25 toward the end of the year, according to ReneeBradshaw, administrative assistant to Randy Barrett, the superintendent of schools in Gentry.

Bradshaw called the contract with SubTeach a beneficial decision for the district and substitute teachers because current substitute teachers would become employees of SubTeach, receive detailedtraining, get paid weekly instead of monthly and receive benefits.

“The subs want it,” Bradshaw said.

The district will benefit because SubTeach will handle substitute teachers’ payroll, background checks, training and recruiting, saving the district considerable cost. SubTeach would also handle placement of substitute teachers and would be able todraw on a pool of substitute teachers from other districts contracting with SubTeach when needed.

In addition to the current pay of $70 per day for asubstitute teacher, the district would pay SubTeach $4.25 per substitute placement. The placement fee would be more than offset by savings to the district because it would not be required to pay for other fringe benefits, such as worker’s compensation, ArkansasTeachers Retirement System and Federal Insurance Contributions Act or FICA.

It was also expected to save the district time and money because of substitutes who worked a day and then filed for unemployment benefits and didn’t teach again.

“We think this should be a win-win situation for the district,” Barrett said. “And it should cost us less money than we are paying right now,” he added.

Bradshaw told the board the school district could be released from the contract after a 30-day notice if the company’s services did not meet the needs of the school district.

The service is also used by Decatur School District, Greenland and Farmington Districts, Barrett reported.

Board member Coye Cripps voiced concern over who was in charge when situations arose between a substitute teacher and a student.

Bradshaw explained that the substitutes are trained to follow all the guidelines of the school district in which they are substitute teaching, and the school principal remains in charge should any incidents arise between students and a substitute teacher.

The school district can also request certain substitutes and refuse others, she said.

Both Bradshaw and Barrett reported that other nearby districts using SubTeach gave the company high performance ratings.

News, Pages 1 on 05/30/2012