Hi unaluna,

No, that transition from substitute to para isn't an option and I wouldn't take it if it were, since the pay is drastically different (para's make $10 less than subs). Based on the way I was treated by the HR staff this week, I decided to be done with substitute teaching permanently.

I luckily got a temp job for the next 6 weeks, that starts tomorrow. I emailed the District Mgr's secretary to ask if he could just call me to discuss his concerns and she was adamant that he would not. Then, I asked her to ask him to email me the purpose for his meeting i.e. an agenda and she got hostile with me, "Motts, I told you that's not going to happen. You don't get to have this meeting your way."

This is someone who is in charge of hiring staff and teachers for an entire school district. And this is how he and his secretary respond to reasonable requests.

You have the professional right to ask for a meeting's agenda before you show to the meeting so you can prepare and not be ambushed.

Clearly, I dodged a HUGE bullet by getting this temp job today that made tomorrow's meeting impossible and the District Mgr's refusal to simply call me to discuss the issues.

I sent his secretary a 3 sentence resignation letter and cc'd the district payroll office on it. I basically said I was resigning for a,b,c reasons and included all of the schools I subbed for (from my phone calendar) as proof of my employment in case they try to avoid paying me.

Here's the timeline of their toxic and very unprofessional behavior:

Substitute appreciation luncheon- Friday
Monday - My substitute account is frozen without any heads up from the district, and no explanation given when I asked three different employees
Tuesday - Distr Mgr refuses to disclose the reason for his meeting with me and refuses to reschedule or do a phone call or video call when I let his secretary know I had the temp job.

My prediction is that I will be 100% employed in a real job by the end of spring of 2023. I will never substitute teach again. It's a thankless, horrible, horrible job with no protections for the substitute teacher and no consequences for student abuse and disrespect towards substitute teachers.

Anyone who thinks education isn't a f*c$ed up place, hasn't worked as a teacher or staff member. I'm so relieved to be done. I will never do it again.