(January 26, 2007) — We assume all substitutes do the same job: filling in. They get a call, come to school, read the plan the teacher has left and do what they need to do. To us it is as simple as that. Within the district over 300 substitutes are currently employed. But the routine of a substitute teacher must be more complex. Substitutes may be temps (temporaries for the day), but truth be told, they are still teachers. It is a hard thing to be a substitute; they have to come to a classroom that they are unfamiliar with. The call in the morning is an adverse circumstance. If a sub is needed, the district usually calls them before school telling them to teach that day. Most subs are happy to get the call that morning but also feel conflicted because the call was made at the last minute. “I’m used to getting calls at six in the morning. At first it was with some apprehension. ‘Where am I going, what am I going to do?’ ‘Am I gonna be stuck with wild middle schoolers or will I be happily teaching the senior grades of high school?’” said substitute Quentin Donoghue. Since substitutes usually only fill in for a day, they expect all the materials they need for that day. But every so often there are instances when a sub encounters a class without a lesson plan. The sub would not really know what to teach in that circumstance. In the case of long-term subs, they are in total control of the class. They are the teacher, making the plans and determining grades. And because they are teaching for a prolonged period of time, they are paid $141 a day (compared to the $111 a day a short-term sub makes.) Students generally don’t take substitutes seriously—it’s an unavoidable factor of being a sub. But for English teacher Mary Mardirosian’s long-term sub Jessica Hueter, her scenario differs. “Essentially I’m the teacher so it’s not like being a substitute on a daily basis. I determine their grades,” she said.