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Not at my school, the classroom teacher is still responsible for the planning and grading. When I sat on the malpractice case, it was 3 weeks, I had to go in a couple times a week to drop off work and pick up what had been done. It was made more difficult by not having the same sub more than two days in a row.
My wife is a school bus driver. she got called for federal jury duty a couple years ago in March. The court let her delay her service until school was over.
A few years ago the mother of one of my (mild) special education students was on a sequestered jury for six weeks. She said it was the best six weeks of her life. No cooking, no cleaning, no laundry, no grocery shopping, no child care, no going into the office every day, etc. She said that she missed her husband and three young children but loved the hotel living & eating every meal in a cafeteria (lunch) or restaurant (breakfast & dinner). Her husband said it was the worst six weeks of his life. She told me that he was much more helpful around the house after he realized how much work she needed to do every day.
A agree about the engineer part. Was on a lawsuit jury and the plaintive lawyer made the mistake of allowing myself and four other men with heavy equipment and mechanical experience and two nurses in a personal injury lawsuit. He wanted $375,000 from Walmart for his injuries. He was a construction worker working on expanding the Walmart. As he was leaving in his truck, he hit a Walmart employee on a forklift coming out from behind a storage container. He was still on the Walmart parking lot. His truck skidded (tire marks) close to 20 feet before hitting the forklift and moving it several feet. That told us he had been speeding when he hit the forklift. His back injuries were caused by hitting the steering wheel (he wasn't wearing his seatbelts). The nurses watched him as he regularly used the tems unit. They realized he was abusing the unit causing tears in his back muscle fibers. We agreed the Walmart employee was partially at fault but the plaintive also shared blame. We gave him $25,000 which equaled 6 months pay (his first 5 doctors said 6 months light duty) and medical bills. One bleeding heart woman wanted to give him more out of sympathy. We over ruled her.
I've gotten summoned three times. My county gives you a juror number, you call in the clerk of courts' line night before, and if your number is high enough, you don't have to show up and it still counts as having satisfied criteria and you won't get another summons for at least a year. My number's been too high to report twice, and the third time, I was bounced from the case early on because I've got close kin as a LEO.
So my state is moving to teacher evals being based off of common assessments and today I get a summons to petit jury. That means if selected I will miss 6 weeks of school.
Not only will my students lose and have no way to regain 6 weeks of instruction but they would likely fail the end of year exams. Then I would get a bad evaluation and lose tenure.
Should teachers be exempt from jury duty during the school year?
Yes. It isn't the hardship for the teacher that's important in this case. It's the hardship for 25-150 students. Yes, six weeks of a substitute in first grade can make a huge difference. Six weeks missing from Algebra II? Cover high school chemistry or physics in six fewer weeks?
Those who don't know the difference would say, "There's a sub." But when I was teaching, having a substitute meant a day of review worksheets - we did not have subs who could handle junior high kids and algebra at the same time. When I was in high school, substitutes never attempted to teach. They were just the adult-in-the-room in case of emergency.
Yes. It isn't the hardship for the teacher that's important in this case. It's the hardship for 25-150 students. Yes, six weeks of a substitute in first grade can make a huge difference. Six weeks missing from Algebra II? Cover high school chemistry or physics in six fewer weeks?
Those who don't know the difference would say, "There's a sub." But when I was teaching, having a substitute meant a day of review worksheets - we did not have subs who could handle junior high kids and algebra at the same time. When I was in high school, substitutes never attempted to teach. They were just the adult-in-the-room in case of emergency.
What an interesting indictment of the skills of those substitutes ... trained, educated, professional teachers with degrees/credentials & classroom experience, no?
In light of the claims of unique talents and training possessed by those holding teaching credentials on other threads in this education forum at this time ...
Last edited by toobusytoday; 03-24-2012 at 02:32 PM..
Yes. It isn't the hardship for the teacher that's important in this case. It's the hardship for 25-150 students. Yes, six weeks of a substitute in first grade can make a huge difference. Six weeks missing from Algebra II? Cover high school chemistry or physics in six fewer weeks?
Those who don't know the difference would say, "There's a sub." But when I was teaching, having a substitute meant a day of review worksheets - we did not have subs who could handle junior high kids and algebra at the same time. When I was in high school, substitutes never attempted to teach. They were just the adult-in-the-room in case of emergency.[/QUOTE]
What an interesting indictment of the skills of those substitutes ... trained, educated, professional teachers with degrees/credentials & classroom experience, no?
In light of the claims of unique talents and training possessed by those holding teaching credentials on other threads in this education forum at this time ...
In PA a sub must be certificated but you could and would end up with a sub certificated in English covering a Physics class.
In MD the requirement for being a sub is to be breathing and over 21.
The rule in obtaining sub coverage is to get the classes covered with whomever is available. That's difficult for many administrators to do, too many variables to account for, so that's why the school secretary is usually responsible for it.
Your backhanded attempt at teacher bashing fails due to your own lack of knowledge and apparent personal agenda.
In PA a sub must be certificated but you could and would end up with a sub certificated in English covering a Physics class.
In MD the requirement for being a sub is to be breathing and over 21.
The rule in obtaining sub coverage is to get the classes covered with whomever is available. That's difficult for many administrators to do, too many variables to account for, so that's why the school secretary is usually responsible for it.
Your backhanded attempt at teacher bashing fails due to your own lack of knowledge and apparent personal agenda.
At the beginning of my career I substituted for a year in California (1985-86). The requirement was an "emergency credential," which had little to do with qualification to teach. It just meant that the person passed the background check and the CBEST and had at least three years of college. I know the requirements are different now, but a substitute teacher still should be considered a short term and/or emergency fill-in.
I substituted in a special ed class on a new student's first day. I had no idea what to do with that kid or how to handle the very interesting needs of the others. That was not my best day. I also taught a class of about 30 Spanish-speaking kindergarteners, though I speak little Spanish (and none officially). The aide didn't show. Also not a good day. Four days in Spanish-speaking second grade wasn't bad. But if it had been six weeks, I think the kids might have missed something.
One of my earliest assignments was sixth grade at a very rough school that higher-ranking subs avoided. When I arrived, the first thing that caught my attention on the teacher's desk was a pile of letters from the students - apology letters (forced by the principal) detailing their behavior on the previous day. ("Dear Mrs. So-and-So, I'm sorry we were dancing on the desks, but . . . ") That explained how I got the assignment.
Yes. It isn't the hardship for the teacher that's important in this case. It's the hardship for 25-150 students. Yes, six weeks of a substitute in first grade can make a huge difference. Six weeks missing from Algebra II? Cover high school chemistry or physics in six fewer weeks?
Those who don't know the difference would say, "There's a sub." But when I was teaching, having a substitute meant a day of review worksheets - we did not have subs who could handle junior high kids and algebra at the same time. When I was in high school, substitutes never attempted to teach. They were just the adult-in-the-room in case of emergency.[/QUOTE]
What an interesting indictment of the skills of those substitutes ... trained, educated, professional teachers with degrees/credentials & classroom experience, no?
In light of the claims of unique talents and training possessed by those holding teaching credentials on other threads in this education forum at this time ...
Substitutes don't have to have teaching certification. Heck in some states they don't even need a BA. The file below has the 2010 sub requirements. They do usually need a substitute's license they get from the state or school district, but in some cases. In prior years, in many states (mostly in the south), subs only needed to have graduated high school. That has changed, but subs still don't always have the qualifications needed to teach.
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