Another in the series of articles by guest blogger Jack Thomas.
Check back frequently to see if you’re state has been covered!

Everyone has experienced a substitute teacher in their lifetime. No surprise there. But a 19 year old? You read it right-19! In an article from the Salt Lake Tribune, there seems to be an uproar from the Granite School District,where they used a 19 year old student as an emergency substitute teacher. A further outcry came when the substitute was arrested for a sexual encounter with a 13 year old female student. That’s right-13. According to police, the 2 had met before at a party, but nothing occurred until they met again at school.   “Whenever something like this happens you’re always going to review your policies,” said Granite district spokesman Ben Horsley. Do you think? How does someone that young qualify as the best selection to fill in for a regular teacher?  Districts across the state have varying rules. All substitutes, according to state law, must undergo criminal background checks, but that’s largely where the similarities between districts end. In surrounding districts, the qualifications range from having an associates degree, as in the Jordan District, or a High School Diploma, in the Salt Lake District. In the Davis School District substitutes be at least 20 years old and either have a bachelor’s degree or complete a 14-hour training program, said Chris Williams, district community relations director. The Alpine School District requires that substitutes must be at least 21 years old with a high school diploma and undergo training, said Alpine spokeswoman Rhonda Bromley.  Granite schools require regular substitutes have at least 48 semester hours of college. But when Granite schools can’t find regular substitutes they’re allowed to turn to emergency substitutes Horsley said.

Emergency substitutes are those who might not meet the 48 hour requirement or who don’t want to work regularly but pass criminal background checks, go through training and are well known by school officials. In this case, the emergency substitute had worked as a sweeper at Granite schools for about three years. A sweeper? This is the best they could come up with? No wonder people are outraged! Why don’t we just pull the crossing guard or lunch lady in when we can’t find anyone else? At least they would have some real world experience on dealing with youth, and they may be just a little older than the students!  Granite has hired emergency substitutes approximately 30 times already this year. With financial times being what they are, surely there must be some qualified teachers who are not full time that could use the extra pay. According to the article, authored by reporter Lisa Schencker, “State law encourages districts to hire licensed teachers as substitutes whenever possible, but Blaine Sorenson, acting director of the Substitute Teaching Institute, said it’s not unusual for districts to have a lot of substitutes without credentials.”
He said 28 states, including Utah, permit substitutes to hold only high school diplomas or GEDs! It’s no wonder our schools are a mess!  Geoffrey Smith, former Institute director and current president of STEDI, which markets and distributes training materials and programs developed by the Institute, says the State is working on the problem and will soon have a larger pool of qualified candidates to choose from. The training materials and programs are designed to teach substitutes how to manage classroom behavior, instruct and be professional, Sorenson said. Let’s hope the background checks are a little more extensive than in this case.