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The school superintendent rejects a School Board member's proposal that administrators serve as substitute teachers.
By BARBARA BEHRENDT
© St. Petersburg Times, published March 3, 2001
CITRUS HILLS -- One group of Citrus educators makes decisions that affect the classroom every day, but its members aren't in front of students teaching.
They are the county-level school administrators in the district office. School Board member Sandra "Sam" Himmel has been pushing to have those administrators serve as substitute teachers. Himmel says everyone involved would have a better understanding of other jobs that way.
She suggested several months ago that the district should require administrators to substitute for teachers on a regular basis, but this week Superintendent David Hickey said that wouldn't be happening anytime soon.
Instead, Hickey said he will make sure that all county office staff become more visible in the schools and, therefore, more accessible to teachers and school staff to provide support.
Himmel said she knew that administrators spend time in the schools but she thought everyone would benefit from their substituting for teachers.
"I think that this would be a morale booster," Himmel said. And visiting schools is still not the same as actually having to teach a class. "It's different than just passing through hallways," she said.
She had suggested that administrators spend one day a month subbing for teachers who had to be out for training or another reason that they knew in advance. Himmel said she had hoped that Hickey would come up with a plan to accomplish that.
But Hickey said his administrators have a wide variety of responsibilities. Some are responsible for curriculum. Others run the business side of the district. From the food service director to executive directors, Hickey said, it would not make sense to take them away from their responsibilities to be in a classroom.
He said he knew that Himmel was specifically targeting administrators who were in charge of educational services and teachers on special assignment in that area. "These people have been hired with specific roles," he said. "They've been very effective in providing educational leadership."
Some visit schools several days a week. "They're involved in providing critical assistance to school leaders," Hickey said. He mentioned that they help with staff development and a variety of special duties, such as assisting schools during the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test process.
He disagreed that substitute teaching by administrators would help morale.
"The morale concerns seem to be paperwork. The morale concerns seem to be the accountability push. The morale concerns seem to be discipline," Hickey said. "Those are the things I want to be working on."
Although he opposed the substitute teaching proposal, Hickey said, he would promise to think about it.
"You can expect next year, all the administrators at the county office will be more visible," he said. "I think that will help with the morale factor."
Board member Pat Deutschman said she learned a lot about the jobs done by those in the district by spending a day with people as they worked.
Shadowing might provide staff with the information they need about the jobs done by others in the district, she said.
But Himmel said watching a teacher teach is not at all like actually being a teacher for a day.
Board member Carol Snyder said there was value to both ideas.
Hickey promised he would consider the suggestions while working to better communicate to all employees the information they need to know about the district.