CLUNY teaches history at Granger High School, and at the beginning of this school year, she broke her back, which left her in sudden pain. She had two substitute teachers for her class. Teachers who have emergencies throughout the school year are grateful for help from long- and short-term substitute teachers.

Students should respect and give equal kindness towards subs and teachers. Ms. Cluny says that one of the challenges she has faced is that students don’t attend their classes — mentally or physically — when there is a sub.

Another challenge Ms. Cluny says she faced at the beginning of the year is that she didn’t get to know her students at all. She doesn’t know if her students learned what she left for the substitute. She says that subs work hard and should get benefits, and they are pretty good at communication. Long-term subs should be able to work five days a week instead of the four. Ms. Cluny says it’s frustrating for teachers to have to schedule two different subs during long absences. Having a substitute work five days a week would benefit teachers overall.

Joanny Marquez (11) was a student in Ms. Cluny’s class, and she worked with the long-term subs. Marquez had a good experience. She liked how the subs enjoyed teaching the class. She liked how the subs communicated, and they seemed to enjoy talking about the history topics.

That said, Marquez enjoys having her teacher back. She thinks that teachers have more resources and are more beneficial to students’ learning. Marquez has had subs, both long- and short-term, who did not participate or communicate with the students during class. In some cases, they didn’t even teach!

Marquez says that while there was a long-term substitute, scores in Focus were never updated. Marquez thought that it was challenging to be unaware of her grade for so long. Marquez’s experience having a long-term sub wasn’t a bad one. She feels it didn’t affect her learning as a student.

Granite School District recently added another type of substitute teacher who works every day at the same school. With so much demand for substitute teachers, it’s good to have a reliable person ready to cover classes at a moment’s notice.

Terry Hughes was a French teacher at Granger for many years, and after he retired, he became a contract teacher sub at Granger in 2022. As a contracted substitute teacher, Hughes has similar benefits to regular teachers. He gets paid the same way and has a teaching degree, so Hughes believes that teachers work well with him.

As a substitute, he has noticed some benefits. Hughes is well known as a person here because he taught a lot of the students and worked with many of the teachers. Mr. Hughes has friendships with students. Unlike short-term subs, Mr. Hughes has better preparation for certain events like assemblies and school-wide tests.

Hughes finds the variety of switching classes and getting to know more students and testing his abilities on different subjects has made substituting better than regular teaching.