Illinois is short 600 school substitutes a day, study finds

From WSIL TV Channel 3

Schools struggle to find substitute teachers

CAT Tracks Editor's Note:

Well, speaking from personal experience...

...back in the day, the summer that I retired from teaching after 39 years, becoming a substitute teacher was a b*tch.

Against my better judgement, I actually tried...

...drove up to the Regional Superintendent's Office (then in Ullin) and said sign me up!

Well, not so fast, buster, there's a few things that you need to do first:

• Fingerprinting

• Criminal background check

• Physical, including TB test

• Submission of college transcripts

• A fee

There may have been other stuff too (like renewing my IL teaching certificate that was due to expire)...

...I forget.

I wanted to snap, wanted to say: "Look, I just retired last month after teaching in Cairo for 39 years. I mean, if I hadn't retired, I wouldn't have to do anything to teach in Cairo next year, except show up."

But...

...as I said, I was undecided about substitute teaching in the first place.

So, I politely accepted the application and said that I would get back to them...

...tossing said application into the trash when I got home, and never looked back.

Looking back now...

...sure am glad for all the red tape and hoops that were in place back in 2008...

...to keep me from making a horrible mistake.

Hell, I could be setting my alarm tonight so that I could report bright eyed and bushy tailed to Cairo School District Number One tomorrow (I'm sure they will need a sub!)...

...or Egyptian, or Meridian, or Century, or Timbuktu.

So...

...if the State of Illinois is really desperate for substitute teachers, they might want to give a waiver to recently retired Illinois school teachers.

Treating them like they're some strange dog that just walked in off the streets ain't gonna make it...