9700

To the greatest degree possible, the Board of Education shall employ competent and effective individuals as substitute teachers. Substitute teachers must be certified by the State of New York in an approved teaching area. When substitute positions of five (5) months or more become available, teachers on the district’s preferred eligibility list, who were excessed from similar positions, will be offered the position.

The Education Law requires that teachers on a district’s preferred eligibility list (PEL) must be offered any additional substitute positions of five (5) months or more in duration, without losing their status on the list, in addition to being offered any similar permanent positions that may become vacant. The declining of such reinstatement may not adversely affect the teacher’s preferred eligibility status.

Individuals employed as substitute teachers who are not certified may be employed for up to forty (40) days during a school year, unless such individuals are in a program leading to teacher certification. In that case, there is no limit on the number of days for which they may be employed as a substitute teacher.

The employment of substitute teachers will be centralized for the district in the office of the superintendent of schools. Candidates selected will be recommended to the Board of Education for placement on the list of approved substitutes
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Administrators will assume responsibility for the scheduling of substitutes from the approved list as needed. Substitute teachers assigned to replace regular teachers will be screened by individual building administrators and their names, applications and waiver of retirement shall be forwarded to the personnel office for processing.

In order to allow adequate time for the school to procure a substitute, professional staff members should notify the principal of their absence in advance. Whenever possible, the teacher who will be absent should leave a detailed lesson plan for the substitute to follow.

Payment of Substitute Teachers