The Niles Township School District 219 Board will provide a pay increase for substitute teachers.
During its Aug. 9 meeting, the board voted unanimously to increase the pay for substitutes from $110 a day to $120 a day, effective immediately.
“They do a hard job,” said Edmund Murphy, District 219 assistant superintendent for human resources. He said the district had not increased its substitute teacher pay rate in eight years.
He said the pay hike is essential because District 219 competes against other school districts for substitutes in a limited pool of teachers, including District 202 in Evanston, which he said pays $135. He said District 219 substitutes regularly cover six periods, and some cover seven.
“The substitutes have been saying ‘I can make more in another district,’ ” Murphy said. “We have to be competitive.”
He said teachers hoping to substitute in District 219 must register online. He also said that is followed by a screening process and training and that the demand for substitute teachers is greatest on Fridays. Information on the number of substitutes used in the district per year was not available.
“We have to get subs to cover for teacher meetings as well,” Murphy said. “There’s lot of different instances when we have to get subs.”
Brian Cox is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
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