KELLY SUBS TAKE SANTA FE BY STORM

The news of Kelly Services and its contract to take over the assignment of substitutes has taken employees of Santa Fe Public Schools by storm. The contract was signed with Kelly and then announced without the subject being aired in public. We checked with the SFPS board secretary and nothing about Kelly Services either appears on the board agenda in 2005, nor has it been spelled out in the SFPS minutes over the past few months.

Don’t conclude that there’s any impropriety associated with the Kelly contract, only that the way in which the issue was handled bypassed public discussion. If school board members approved the resolution (and it’s likely they did), it’s likely the issue was slipped in under a pile of other papers without too many people noticing.

NEA-SF president Laura Hlinak was as surprised as anyone when a reporter called and asked her for a comment for a New Mexican article published on February 25, 2005. She had no prior preparation about how to respond to the issue other than the fact that substitutes are a problem. Hlinak regularly attends school board meetings, no small accomplishment because board sessions can last for hours in any particular month. She hadn’t heard anything brewing. No rumors. Nothing.

So without the benefit of pubic discussion before the fact, a spirited discussion about Kelly Services is taking over informal channels, including this blog. The failed system of recruiting substitutes, a growing problem that Santa Fe Public Schools has for years been unable to handle, is now debated, not in front of the school board, but in the newspapers, public school employee lounges, and in homes all across Santa Fe.

Who stands to gain? Who stands to lose? How much will this cost the district? There are answers to some of these questions and not for others. One fact remains. More questions are being asked right now than there are answers available.

The miserable state of affairs relative to a lack of substitute teachers has been a sad secret within Santa Fe Public Schools for years. At any given school on any particular day, the lack of teachers causes havoc. If there’s one thing where everyone can agree, it’s that something had to be done.

Teachers paid a price when they weren’t in school and they returned to find their classroom in a shambles either because of the lack of a substitute or a sub who didn’t follow the lesson plan. Students lost, if because of the lack of a sub, they were assigned to another classroom to essentially sit in the back of a room and miss out in lessons all day.

Principals lost because problems associated with the lack of substitutes fell into their laps daily and was yet another chronic problem without a solution. Parents lost because they sent their child to school with homework and the substitute either couldn’t follow up on the lesson or didn’t understand the lesson. There are instances over the years when students simply boycotted school when their teachers were sick or out of school for some other reason.

And now underpaid overworked substitutes are about to lose control over their personal information if they sign up with Kelly. Some subs will be out of a job because they refuse to sign up with Kelly Services altogether. Some of these substitutes have had a relationship of long standing with Santa Fe Public Schools, but they’re closing the door behind them. The bottom line is that they don’t want to work for Kelly.

Who stands to gain? Kelly Services is expected to carry a satchel of money to the bank totaling at least $200,000 each year and possibly more. Santa Fe Public Schools stands to gain because district officials have turned the issue of substitutes over to Kelly and they can wash their hands of any more problems.

Over the years there have been ample opportunities to correct the situation. An ad hoc committee of substitute teachers met with the district over a several year period. The group recommended increasing sub salaries. They contributed considerable time and energy to the process; as a result, salaries increased slightly but not enough to compete with other districts and with the times.

Substitutes are not part of the NEA-Santa Fe bargaining unit, so the district has continued to sweep the matter under the rug until Lee Ann Buras, the district’s director of Human Resources, entered the scene. Buras is spearheading the current substitute effort. She was recently quoted in the Santa Fe New Mexican relative to substitutes:

“Kelly is going to be owning them as an employee. They’re going to be cutting the checks. Substitute teachers have to follow (Kelly’s) procedures.”

Buras told a New Mexican reporter that the district needs 80 substitute teachers in any given day.

The comment about ownership by Lee Ann Buras didn’t sit well with many subs who don’t like the idea that they’ll be owned by anyone, especially at the low pay of $55 a day without a college degree and $65 per day with a degree. They say that a retirement program and a health plan might sound attractive at first glance, but they are not comfortable with the other parts of Kelly ownership, such as turning over personal information.

The pay for subs in Santa Fe is lower than that of nearby school districts, yet instead of raising the pay and making subs a priority, SFPS has taken the easy road of outsourcing substitute services.

The sub program with Kelly Services at the helm goes into effect on March 28, 2005. Then it’s a wait and see game. It’s assumed that if the uproar dies down, Kelly will have its contract secure for the future. But if flames of dissent don’t die down, it’s possible the SFPS policy makers will reconsider.

Ask any building inspector how often a local town asks a builder to tear down a structure erected without a building permit. Precious few. Once Kelly has its foot in the door, it will use elephant glue to make sure the contract doesn’t budge. So it’s up to you, the sub, the teacher in the classroom, support personnel, administrators, parents, teachers, students and concerned community members to stand up and be counted.

What do you think? What are your experiences with the current sub program? How will you be impacted by Kelly Services taking over? What do you see as the advantages or disadvantages? What are your recommendations? If you look into the future five years from now, what is the crystal ball revealing about Santa Fe Public Schools?

If you are an employee of Santa Fe Public Schools, make sure you’re reading and responding to this blog, “Kelly Subs in Santa Fe” at home on your own time and at your own computer.

This blog addressing the sub issue in Santa Fe Public Schools is an experiment to collect information and allow the public to discuss issues outside the regular forum provided at school board meetings. If Santa Fe Public Schools doesn’t allow discussion at school board meetings about issues affecting everyone, then other forums must be created.

This blog is maintained and updated by volunteers committed to the democratic process in public education. We’d love to hear from you.