Messages from the Front LinesThese are very trying times. Many of our institutions are under assault. It's so important to keep oneself healthy and focused. We are entrusted, some of us on a daily basis with the most precious of our society. OSTA along with many other groups and individuals are working with our State Legislature to ensure these children are getting the best quality education they can get. As Substitute Teaching Educators we encounter a variety of challenging situations unique to our profession. OSTA's Bills and outreaches will help support our Substitutes and all educators. By going to the OLIS website, reading the emails sent from OSTA, checking out this newsletter, coming to the Office Hour on Thursdays and other avenues, you will become more educated about what's happening with our state's education system. Stay strong, take care of yourselves and appreciate the honor we are given to teach. All the best, Steve Frank Member-At-Large _________________________________________________________________ WHO IS MY SCHOOL DISTRICT SPONSOR? My substitute teaching experience first began in 2019 as an Educational Assistant (“EA”) in several school districts located in the Gresham, Oregon area. After nearly one year of serving as an EA, I decided to take the plunge to obtain a Restricted Substitute Teaching License. My employer at that time, ESS, a third-party company contracted with the school districts where I live, guided me through the process. This consisted of taking the Oregon Civil Rights test, connecting with the Utah State University Substitute Teaching Skills diploma program which was entirely online and through a partnership between STEDI.org and Utah State. After successful completion of all of that, ESS assisted me further with sponsorship as a Restricted Substitute Teacher when I applied for a license with TSPC. I incorrectly assumed that the sponsor for my license was ESS. What I later learned, much to my chagrin, was that ESS was not the sponsor for my Restricted Substitute Teaching License. The Gaston School District was. The Superintendent of the Gaston School District signed my sponsorship letter for the first year of my license and for years two through five of the licensing period. Gaston is one of ESS’ contracted school districts. The problem for me was that I had never ONCE in five years’ time set foot in the Gaston School District. I had never met or talked to the Superintendent of the Gaston School District. It made no sense to me that a school district I had no connection to was the sponsor for my license. In year five of my employment with ESS, I was informed that they would no longer sponsor my Restricted Substitute Teaching License. I turned to OSTA for help. OSTA members, during office hours, told me that it was a common practice for ESS to “facilitate” sponsorships for its restricted substitute teacher employees with the Gaston School District. I had heard about this from one substitute teacher I met on the job. I subsequently learned this was true for me when I researched my own TSPC Educator file and discovered the letter of recommendation from Gaston as the sponsor for my restricted substitute teaching license. The OSTA members I spoke to were completely unsurprised by this revelation. I was shocked to learn this! In the spring of 2024, I hired on with the other third-party company in my area, Edustaff. Happily, the Gresham-Barlow School District was willing to sponsor my license beginning July 1, 2024 for one year. Edustaff was very clear that they were not the sponsor but would offer their support for sponsorship by Gresham-Barlow and connect me with the appropriate person with the district to ask to obtain sponsorship. Edustaff was fully transparent about their role in the process. Given the lack of transparency about the identity of my school district sponsor and other problems I had with ESS, I resigned from ESS in the Fall of 2024 which meant I also had to effectively resign from the relationships I had built at the schools I worked at for five years. I continue to work for Edustaff, have developed new relationships at several schools they serve and will be requesting that the Gresham-Barlow School District continue to sponsor me when the initial term for my Restricted Substitute Teaching License with Gresham-Barlow ends at the end of June. After successful completion of the first year of sponsorship with a different school district (that is different in that Gaston was no longer my sponsor beginning July 1, 2024). Under TSPC’s rules, the next term of sponsorship will be for three years. Each time a Restricted Substitute Teacher changes the sponsor for his or her license, the new license is issued for a one year term. Thereafter, the license can be renewed for a three year term if the same school district continues to sponsor the license. Don’t know who your school district sponsor is? Go to your file on the TSPC website and look it up. URL: https://www.oregon.gov/tspc/LIC/Pages/default.aspx As always, contact OSTA members on Thursdays at 4:30pm during office hours or call one of us. We can help guide you based on our individual and collective experiences. By Mary Harvill
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