Article published March 25, 2004
Teaching positions at a premium
Substitute teacher Jeanelle Bateson helps Emily Bialecki, 11, left, and Cote Sailer, 10, with their work at the Monroe Road Elementary School in the Bedford district.
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THE BLADE/DON SIMMONS
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By LARRY P. VELLEQUETTE
BLADE STAFF WRITER
By all accounts, 27-year-old Sylvania native Jeanelle Bateson is an outstanding elementary teacher. She is so talented at her vocation, in fact, that she was chosen to train other science teachers in Lenawee County in a popular science kit that is used in many area schools.
But for the last nine months, life has been taking Ms. Bateson to school, teaching her harsh lessons in the economics laws of supply and demand.
The 1995 graduate of Northview High School was laid off last summer after three years as an elementary science teacher in Lenawee County’s Sand Creek School District. Now she finds herself competing against hundreds of other laid-off teachers and out-of-work professionals each day for substitute teaching jobs in Michigan and Ohio.
"Everyone said, ‘Hey we need teachers,’ and then everyone went into it," Ms. Bateson said. "It’s been ridiculous. I sent out so many resumes [and] applications all over Michigan and the Toledo area, and I had just one interview. That was it."
Ironically, Ms. Bateson is one of the lucky ones. Familial contacts led her to contact officials at Bedford Public Schools, where she has been working steadily since November filling in for a Temperance Road Elementary teacher who’s on leave. And Monday, she’ll start a new assignment at Monroe Road Elementary, replacing a teacher who’s taking time off to have a baby.
"We have people from every walk of life that are wanting to substitute teach. I think the job market must just be that bad," explained Terri Kelley, the substitute teacher coordinator for the Monroe County Intermediate School District.
Part of Mrs. Kelley’s job is to hire substitutes each day to fill vacancies across all nine public school districts in Monroe County. To do so, she draws from a list of applicants that has risen to 730 people.
"I’ve been doing this for four years, and we’ve never had a list that big," Mrs. Kelley said. "We’re seeing more men than usual coming from [white-collar] jobs."
Though Monroe County seems to be inundated with those seeking to become substitute teachers, other areas are experiencing more modest increases in the number of people looking for classroom work.
In Wood County, where substitute teachers earn an average of between $70 and $85 a day, finding substitutes was made easier a few years ago when Ohio began allowing applicants with bachelor’s degrees but without teaching certifications.
"I wouldn’t say we have more people to draw from than the need that exists. On some days things are fine, but on other days, things can get tough," said Richard Schemmer, director of personnel for Wood County Educational Service Center.
Mr. Schemmer is in charge of hiring substitutes for the six local school districts in the county, but not city schools of Perrysburg, Rossford, and Bowling Green. Still, he said he has 258 people on his list seeking substitute jobs, either by the day or longer-term.
In Toledo Public Schools, substitutes can earn anywhere from $79.09 a day up to $238.07 a day, depending upon their qualifications and experience. But a district-wide hiring freeze has begun to impact the district’s substitute teacher list, which is down to just 347 people, said Jane Bruss, TPS’s executive director of communications.
And in some more specialized assignments, such as special education classrooms, there is still a need for more qualified substitute teachers.
While the pay for substitute teachers remains at much the same level it has been for the last five years across the area, there is a sometimes much larger incentive for those in situations like Ms. Bateson’s to work as many places as possible in hopes of landing another full-time job.
"We definitely look closer at substitute teachers that have been in our building when it comes to hiring," said Temperance Road Elementary Principal Linda Dukate, who’s been Ms. Bateson’s supervisor for the last five months. "We’ve already seen them in the classroom and how they interact with the kids, and that goes a long way when we’re trying to fill a position."
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