Dear SAISD Family Member,
Anatole France once stated, “To accomplish great things we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe.” As your Interim Superintendent of Schools, please accept my sincere gratitude for making every moment count and for reminding us daily that SAISD is too great for small dreams.
The key to our success has always been found in the power of our people. This past week we have much to celebrate across our 79 square miles of excellence, and I invite you to join me in honoring the power of promise, imagination, and hard work, as illustrated by the following recognitions:
• We have an extremely talented SAISD Family member selected to portray Mother Ginger for one night in this season’s Ballet San Antonio adaptation of The Nutcracker. Routing supervisor Katelyn Saenz in our Transportation Department was chosen to play the part on Friday, Dec. 10. Each year the production casts community members to play Mother Ginger, and this year, frontline workers are taking center stage. Congratulations, Katelyn!
• The White House came calling. Mary Wall, the senior policy advisor on the COVID-19 Response Team, is relying on large school districts across the country to ensure the vaccine is distributed throughout our local communities. She reached out to Toni Thompson, associate superintendent for Human Capital Management, to learn more about SAISD’s extensive vaccination efforts and how they could share these practices across the United States.
• This week, we announced more amazing opportunities for our students. The CAST Schools Network, in partnership with UTSA and SAISD, launched the Early College Academy at CAST Tech High School. The academy gives students a head start on college with university credit and degree pathways. We also celebrated the AlamoPromise event at Burbank High School. The AlamoPromise scholarship covers tuition and required fees for students seeking an academic certificate or associate degree for up to three years at any of the five Alamo Community Colleges.
Great teachers inspire their students to believe they can become great. We are truly appreciative to all of our outstanding teachers, support staff and substitutes for inspiring even the smallest of hearts to grow big and change the world. As one way to respect this exceptional group, we are taking a bold and courageous compensation plan for substitute teachers to our Board of Trustees at the upcoming Nov. 15 Board Meeting.
During the 2018-2019 school year 21,869 new teacher certificates were issued across the state. In the 2019-2020 school year only 17,734 new teacher certificates were issued. This is a decrease of 4,135 new teacher certifications in just one year. School districts across San Antonio, the state and nation are experiencing a decline in the number of available certified teachers. Currently in SAISD we have 100 teacher vacancies and must embrace this challenge with an innovative approach to address this shortage for the rest of this school year.
Our goal is to recruit and retain highly qualified, certified teacher substitutes in our classrooms so we may lessen the load on our existing teachers, provide our teachers with more opportunities to plan and collaborate, and support our teachers in their commitment of assisting students in their academic recovery caused by the pandemic. In reviewing the data, we have found that the highest number of unfilled jobs are on Mondays and Fridays. So, we have adjusted our plan accordingly.
Our plan includes increasing the substitute rates for a certified substitute in a critical subject area to $200 a day for Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and $225 a day for Mondays and Fridays. Critical Areas are recognized as Bilingual/ESL/Dual Language, Special Education, Math, Science, English and Social Studies.
Non-Critical Area substitutes will be paid $175 per day for Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and $200 a day for Mondays and Fridays in the elementary grades. In the secondary grades, these substitutes will earn $200 a day for Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and $225 a day for Mondays and Fridays.
A certified individual who is not substituting in the area of their certification will receive $150 a day for Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and $175 a day for Mondays and Fridays in the elementary grades. In the secondary grades, these substitutes will earn $175 a day for Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and $200 a day for Mondays and Fridays.
A degreed substitute will earn $135 a day for Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and $160 a day for Mondays and Fridays in the elementary grades. In the secondary grades, these substitutes will earn $160 a day for Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and $185 a day for Mondays and Fridays.
A non-degreed substitute will earn $120 a day for Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and $145 a day for Mondays and Fridays in the elementary grades. In the secondary grades, these substitutes will earn $135 a day for Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and $160 a day for Mondays and Fridays.
It is also important to note that secondary teacher substitutes at Cooper Academy and in the Sam Houston and Lanier clusters will receive an additional $25 to their daily rate and the majority of this compensation plan will be funded from the savings accrued by the current teacher vacancies.
Ralph Waldo Emerson once stated, “The creation of a thousand forests is in one acorn.” On behalf of our Board of Trustees and the entire SAISD, thank you for understanding that nothing great can be created suddenly, that progress always involves risks, and that we can never become the school district we aspire to be by remaining where we are.
Have a Fantastic Friday and a Wonderful Weekend!
"Dr. J"
Robert Jaklich, Ed. D.
"Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever."
~Mahatma Gandhi