Thursday, June 3, 2010

Uncertainty

Since testing ended, it's been a little bit easier to find jobs. I've been religiously monitoring the subfinder sites for my districts, and have filled in quite a few days for this week and next. Unfortunately, they keep getting cancelled on me. I had two jobs cancelled for this past Tuesday before finally getting one that actually stuck. And I had a job set for today that was cancelled on me last night at 10:00.

It's very unsettling. I'm not crazy about accepting jobs the morning of, simply because you don't know what you'll be walking in to. If a teacher posts it by at least the night before, you can be pretty certain that some form of a lesson plan will be waiting. I also like to be able to forecast how much money my next paycheck will be so I can plan ahead. When I can, I often double-book myself. I'm sure the school districts wouldn't appreciate this practice. This means that I'm guilty of cancelling assignments also, but I know that the sub pool is large enough that someone else will snap up the job and be happy for it, and I haven't really inconvenienced anyone else.

It's pretty crazy right now. School ends on the 25th. I'm not expecting any calls the last week of school, so I'm trying to get everything I can in over the next couple of weeks. My only explanation for the rash of cancellations is that right now teachers are taking time to finish up work and if they have it finished ahead of time, they cancel the sub. I guess the other rationalization is that they could be planning personal days and then decide that it's more important to be in class, but if that's the case, don't request the sub until you know for sure what you're doing!

So, I guess it's another day at home today, and one less day's pay on the check.

1 comment:

  1. Too bad you don't substitute in our district. 80% of our schools are year round. (But not mine.)

    The life of the sub has to be so hard. All the uncertainty. I feel for you.

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