Teachers from across the district came to the Gloucester Township Public Schools Board of Education meeting on Feb. 24 to voice their concerns on the issue of substitute teachers recruited through the education staffing company ESS Northeast.
During the meeting at Charles W. Lewis Middle School, the board approved an addendum to its current contract with the Tennessee-based company, bumping the district’s pay rate for building-based substitutes from $91 to $100 per day, according to School Business Administrator and Board Secretary Jean Grubb.
Grubb noted that ESS Northeast’s fill rate for substitute teachers within the district was 82 percent between September and January of the 2018-2019 school year. But that rate has since dropped to 72 percent for the current 2019-2020 school year, highlighting the need to address the issue.
During public comments, Patti McBride, president of the Gloucester Township Education Association, addressed the board about substitute services through ESS Northeast in the past several months.
“The sub situation continues to be a problem, or may I say, the lack of substitutes in our buildings is of concern to all of us,” she said. “Our educators are feeling anxiety, stress and impact to all of our students as the situation continues.”
In looking at how the lower substitute teacher fill rate has affected the district, McBride said students are not receiving the education they deserve because teachers are responsible for additional children who are not their assigned students.
“Let’s focus on students just for a moment,” McBride noted. “Are the individual educational programs being addressed and followed when students are being split amongst numerous classes? Are the tier students getting the services they need when their in-class support teacher is being pulled to other classes? What happens to my class when I end up with six, seven, eight additional students from other classrooms?
“They are losing out on their daily, instructional, educational process.”
McBride also raised concerns that the substitute issue will have a negative impact on the district’s standardized testing scores this spring. She has addressed the problem with the board and district administration in the past, and will do so again in the coming weeks, as Gloucester Township seeks to increase its number of substitute teachers.
Other teachers and staff raised concerns during the meeting’s public comment about reported problems navigating the ESS Northeast system, which posts available substitute jobs in the township on any given day. Superintendent John Bilodeau said he and the administration will address the issue with ESS.
“It’s a frustrating thing,” Bilodeau said. “When teachers, God forbid, have the flu and have to call out, the expectation is that we have a service that sends someone to the building who can look at that lesson plan and continue that continuity with that lesson plan throughout the day.
“There has been a tremendous shift in available substitute resources, and it’s not just Gloucester Township and I don’t think it’s just with Camden County,” he added. “It really is [a national issue]. It’s very much parallel to how we have a problem with transportation; I’m always asking for drivers. Well, we need a campaign for substitute teachers … We’re trying to pay a very fair amount.
“If anything, I don’t want to say that Gloucester Township is above everyone else, but we’re certainly not low balling subs either.”
On a different meeting subject, Bilodeau said district administrators will visit three largely minority colleges over the next few months in an effort to recruit future teachers, per its Comprehensive Equity Plan.
During March and April, visits are expected to job fairs at Howard University in Washington, D.C.; Hampton University in Virginia; and Lincoln Memorial University in Tennessee.
