The primary problem is that students are then taught by substitute teachers, who tend to be less qualified and can’t provide the same instruction as regular teachers, school board members and district officials said.
“A trained teacher is a linchpin to academic achievement,” Garcia said at the board meeting. “We do have quality substitutes, but at the end of the day they are substitute teachers.”
About 97% of full-time district teachers are considered fully credentialed and highly qualified under the No Child Left Behind Act’s definition, Escalante said. Substitute teachers in the district are sometimes, but not always, as credentialed and qualified, he said.
District teachers are collectively given a total of 25 days of “release time” each year as part of their contract. That means the district covers the costs of hiring substitute teachers for 25 days to account for the absence of teachers who are out for union business. The contract also allows teachers to miss more days than that — at the discretion of the school district — but the teachers union must pick up the cost of substitute teachers for any additional days missed beyond 25, Garcia said.
Escalante said he had been aware that the number of additional release days increased last year, but because the school district was involved in contentious contract negotiations with the teachers union, he chose not to raise the issue.
“My decision was to allow it to go on until we concluded the negotiations, ” Escalante said.
The 175 release days taken by members of the Glendale Teachers Assn. last year does not include days union members spent at the bargaining table over their contract, Garcia said.
