Maybe Teachers need development before they are hired.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- From the start of school in August through the second week in December, more than 23,500 requests were made for a substitute teacher in Kanawha County schools, computer records at the school board's central office show.

That's about 7 percent higher than the number of requests for the same period in the previous two school years.

There were 73 instructional days in that period, which translates into an average of 322 requests for a substitute per day.

The county has been unable to fill about 100 teaching positions. That accounted for about 10,500 of the requests for a substitute during the first semester.

Teachers taking personal, family or sick leave resulted in about 6,500 calls for a substitute.

And another 6,500 requests stemmed from teachers being called away to training sessions.

Board of education member Pete Thaw said that isn't acceptable.

"We better start spending some time in the classroom teaching the children (instead of) spending all this money on crazy workshops," Thaw said. "The teachers don't want to do it."

On 1,900 occasions in the first semester, schools had a teacher absence they could not fill with a substitute, according to an analysis of county records. Teachers and administrators often deal with those situations by moving students into other classrooms.
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Holz Elementary Principal Karen Simon said staff development sessions scheduled throughout the county - sometimes on the same day - pull teachers out of schools. This can leave some schools strapped for staff.

"There are so many staff developments that it takes a lot of substitutes to fill those vacancies," she said.

http://www.dailymail.com/News/Kanawha/200901270472

In the first 3 ½ months of the school year they had 6,500 requests to attend staff developments training sessions!!!!!!!

For keeeerist sake, why in gawds name would a teacher have to take a day off from teaching to be taught some silly little thing or two?

Send them a damned memo and tell them to LEARN IT.

If they were smart enough to be hired as a Teacher, ……… smart enough to learn from and teach students from source material, ……. then surely to gawd they are capable of learning something for themselves from source material (memos, etc.) that is sent directly to themselves.

I personally believe that “staff development” crap is nothing more than a waste of time and money and the only ones that benefit$ from them are the School Employees and/or the non-School Employee that are paid the “BIG BUCK$” for “teaching” those staff developments training sessions.

I remember the wife, a school cook, telling me about one of their In Service day’s (staff developments training sessions) wherein the Instructor was teaching all of those in attendance how to “pat each other on the back and shoulders to relieve stress, anxiety, etc.,” so that they would all feel relaxed, warm, fuzzy and better.




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For the most part I agree with you Sam. A lot of the days are State required training - why can't the state reimburse the counties for it?

However, almost every profession has required hours of Professional Development that each employee is required to sit through.

I"m proud to say that those sessions that I have personally been involved with creating and presenting teach way more than how to give shoulder rubs.

Why can't they do it without interfering with our children's education Sasha? You've got plenty of time in the summer or during one of the breaks without taking a day each month for staff development or requiring a subsutitute teacher.

Hell, if nothing else, let teachers take these days on Saturdays. You would be suprised at how many real world employees have to take training classes either after hours or on weekends.