Substitute teachers in Carter County soon will be going by the book — the new substitute teacher handbook.
Members of the Carter County Board of Education heard an update on the new manual during a workshop session Monday afternoon.
To develop the policy and procedure manual for substitute teachers, Assistant Director of Schools Peggy Campbell said school officials worked with a lot of different people – including getting input from county principals as well as neighboring school systems.
“I think it is well-developed,” Campbell said. “I think we are really on the right track with this.”
The school system previously had a handbook for substitute teachers, but that handbook was outdated and needed to be replaced, Campbell said.
“All of our new substitutes will be required to attend a training conducted here at the office by me,” Campbell said. “All of our existing substitutes will be given a copy and instructed to read it and contact us if they have any questions.”
However, Campbell assured the board members, just because the handbook is completed does not mean the administrators are through reviewing policies and procedures for the substitute teachers.
“This is going to be an ongoing document,” she said. “This is not going to be a put it on the shelf kind of thing.”
As the training sessions with substitute teachers progress, Campbell said school officials will take what they learn from those sessions and feedback they get from the schools to make changes to the handbook as needed.
School officials will also work with the principals to address any issues with substitute teachers as they arise and will solicit regular feedback on how the substitutes are performing.
“Every May I will be asking every principal if there is any reason they don’t want a particular person subbing for the upcoming year,” Campbell said.
The first of the training sessions for new substitute teachers will be held on Friday, Jan. 30 at 8:30 a.m., Campbell said and will be held monthly as needed after that.