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Editorial: Tighten substitute teacher rules in Hillsborough

 
Hillsborough Public Schools Superintendent Jeff Eakins speaks during a back to school press conference held at Leto High School Monday, Aug. 24, 2015 in Tampa. Several Hillsborough Public Schools Board members and Florida Teacher of the Year Diane McKee joined Eakins for the annual press conference. Hillsborough Public school students return to classes Tuesday, Aug. 25. CHRIS URSO/STAFF
Hillsborough Public Schools Superintendent Jeff Eakins speaks during a back to school press conference held at Leto High School Monday, Aug. 24, 2015 in Tampa. Several Hillsborough Public Schools Board members and Florida Teacher of the Year Diane McKee joined Eakins for the annual press conference. Hillsborough Public school students return to classes Tuesday, Aug. 25. CHRIS URSO/STAFF
Published Jan. 17, 2018

A substitute teacher at a Plant City elementary school berated a class of fourth graders — and then the school principal. Another compared a student to a stripper. Others were caught napping, hitting children, making sexual remarks, giving students bizarre assignments or trashing them as losers and idiots. None of this is remotely acceptable behavior, and Hillsborough County students deserve better.

Substitute teachers have long been ridiculed in pop culture as glorified babysitters, a free pass for students looking to coast. But an investigation by the Tampa Bay Times' Marlene Sokol showed the huge role substitutes play on a regular basis in the Hillsborough County school system — and the gaps that have allowed unfit teachers into the classroom. Even if the worst cases found by the Times are, as district officials claim, an aberration, students, their families and taxpayers need more vigor and vigilance from a process that costs millions and consigns some of the neediest students to revolving-door instruction.

NAPPING AND NAME-CALLING: Who's subbing for your kids' teachers in Hillsborough?

The Times investigation documented reports of substitutes sleeping on the job, making inappropriate comments, stealing from school staff and engaging in other unacceptable behaviors. Substitutes used the n-word and called children "ghetto," or lashed out at students and staff. One wept uncontrollably while another sent a twin to work in his place. One substitute asked students to draw a picture of a dog eating a cat. A substitute at Blake High School told his students that homosexuality was a "disease," while another at a middle school was accused of hitting a student with her cane.

Since 2014, the school district has contracted with Kelly Educational Staffing to fill more than 170,000 shifts each year when teachers are absent or on leave. Its ranks include hundreds of former Hillsborough teachers; some are retirees while others were fired or resigned after misconduct allegations, low performance reviews or a lack of professional certification.

The Times reviewed incident reports submitted by principals who complained of having a bad experience with a substitute. It took nearly four months for the Times to obtain the records, but Kelly turned over 443 forms after the district's attorney agreed that the company was conducting public business and should comply with the state's public records laws. The forms covered roughly half the time Kelly has been under contract.

The so-called "Do Not Use" forms show a wide variety of unbecoming conduct. While the district and the company say the examples of bad behavior are outliers considering the 8,000 applicants who have signed on with Kelly and the 2,500 active substitutes in the school system, it's obvious that gaps exist in the oversight of these teachers. The district only this academic year began requiring principals to copy its human resources office on all "Do Not Use" forms. There is no excuse for the district to not have been fully informed about the incidents taking place and for failing to show meaningful oversight of the program.

The district sent Kelly a letter this month asking the company to respond to concerns about specific instructors and more generally to address the process it uses for dealing with teachers who have been the subject of a "Do Not Use." Invoices suggest many of the substitutes were dropped after Kelly received complaints. Still, Superintendent Jeff Eakins is insisting on new assurances that these cases are being taken seriously. Responding Tuesday to the Times report, School Board member Lynn Gray called for a public review of how the district hired substitutes. "I'm dumbfounded," she said. "It only takes one bad incident for a child to be really frightened."

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The district should send a clear message and follow it up with rigorous internal auditing to ensure that substitutes have the right credentials, training and character to be in the classroom. There also needs to be a better strategy to keep permanent teachers and not substitutes in high-poverty schools where the environment is already challenging enough. Good teachers are the first line of defense, and substitutes should be equally qualified to fill in.