The Substitute (Teacher) Issue

At least four substitute teachers in one month?

At least four too many.......

But that's how many substitute teachers, 3-year-old Ellis Jackson, who is autistic, had in January, due to his teacher being out with an illness for a month. Yesterday's Gazette.net reports:

At the Jacksons' [Ellis' parents'] request, they were provided with documentation from the school's principal, Sonia Beckford, showing Ellis had at least four substitute teachers during the month his regular teacher was absent. From Jan. 5 to Jan. 16, two substitutes who were not certified to teach special education taught in the class, according to the documents. No teacher's name was listed for Jan. 21, and for Jan. 22 to Feb. 6, another substitute, whose qualifications were not provided, taught the class.

Behaviors noted by teachers, like rocking in his chair and yelling in class, increased for Ellis when the substitutes started in early January, according to a school psychologist's analysis.

Around the time of Ellis' teacher's return in February, a dedicated paraprofessional began to work with him during school. Eric Jackson, Ellis' father, said the family has seen a "remarkable improvement" in Ellis since the assistant began but said the family would still like to see additional services, such as more speech therapy, to make up for the disruption in Ellis' routine.

Ellis' father, Eric Jackson, filed a complaint with the state of Maryland's education department: While a violation was found---that the "school system had not provided Ellis with a certified special education teacher during his teacher's absence"---the law did not provide the Jacksons with any additional resources to make up for the services Ellis did not receive due to his special education teacher's absence.

In my son's current school program, there is one extra teacher/instructor on staff so that, if one staff member is ill, there is someone already trained, and already familiar to Charlie and his classmates. It's an arrangement that could be called "pound wise and penny foolish." Keeping in mind the need for many students on the spectrum for consistency and other, anticipating that a teacher or instructor might be ill makes good sense. It's fortunate that my school district can provide such an arrangement, and it's not a bad model to be considered in creating classrooms for children on the spectrum.