Elswhere in Papers of Record

The New York Times has noticed that there's something of a substitute teacher crisis. Alas, it's the Times, so they're mostly concerned with individual teachers and districts (and mostly teachers - the author notes in the comments that there isn't evidence for the suggestion that teachers are not at work more days than other professionals, but that's the theme of the piece).

Personally, I think this is a missed opportunity to talk about how we didn't spend COVID funds on HVAC improvements. The nation has old school buildings with bad HVAC. Failing heat and lousy ventilation mean people get sick. It's true the federal government ended up zeroing out a proposed fund for school infrastructure, but there was a lot of money for COVID improvements and it didn't lead to concrete, lasting changes like better buildings with better air circulation.

Also of note is that the article proposes site support subs as a possible fix. A site support sub is a substitute who works full-time at a school. This person can cover classes if someone is out (or to facilitate lesson study, during the day meetings, etc.) but is at the site every day even if there are no absences. In this way, the sub builds relationships with students and staff, and that should mean that when they do sub, the day is more like one with the teacher of record.

What's interesting about this is that SFUSD used to have site support subs at high-needs sites. They got rid of them a couple of budget crises back. As part of the UESF contract extension for 2022-23, there was a site support sub pilot. Under Matt's "Four Times the Required Reserves, Enough Assistant Supes to Staff a Large Elementary School, and Up to Fifty Cents for Each School Site" budget, site support subs will be cut, again. 

This is SFUSD: every elementary school will have an instructional coach next year, despite the very limited data of their efficacy. No school will have a site support sub, despite the clear impact of unfilled absences on a school and a class. No data were collected to judge the impact of the pilot; we fund our schools based not on data, but on the whim of our Supe.