Stuyvesant’s substitute teachers share how the substitute system works and their opinions and perspectives on the profession.

You walk into your classroom, ready for a normal class period. But to your surprise, your teacher is gone, and in their place stands a smiling substitute, their name written across the blackboard behind them. This is a typical experience, with Stuyvesant students having witnessed a similar rotation of substitutes since their freshman year. However, this rotation means that substitutes can easily fade into the background. Every teacher has a unique, untold story, and substitutes are no exception. To avoid overlooking these narratives, one must understand what substitutes’ jobs truly consist of, the work that goes into them, and the perspectives of the individuals behind the job.

All substitute teachers begin their day with a schedule coordinated by secretary Tiffany Holmes. Holmes coordinates with teachers when they call in absent and arranges substitutes who might need to cover for them. “She’ll text me, and it’ll be like six o’clock in the morning,” Kathleen Goldpaugh, a regular substitute teacher, said. Holmes ensures that every class is supervised and paired with a suitable teacher—a demanding job, to say the least. “I think that this woman hardly ever sleeps,” Goldpaugh remarked. “People are always contacting her!” To add to the burden, the school administration intentionally maintains a familiar group of substitutes so that an absent teacher isn’t as much of a shock, and the class can run as smoothly as possible. “There are about five of us that you see a lot of,” Goldpaugh explained. “They like to have the same group of students, so it’s familiar for you guys.”

Once schedules have been distributed, the substitutes can carry out their roles. Substitute teacher Yvrote Duplan provided insight into what one might look like. “A typical [day] at Stuyvesant for me begins with getting the schedule and the lessons of the unavailable teacher as soon as I arrive,” Duplan described in an email interview. The content of these schedules is different, but the general structure of the day is the same. “I review the lessons and the work assigned to the students. At times, I have to meet with an assistant principal before heading to class. During each lesson, I make sure students are on task and give assistance as needed,” he finished.

The entirety of a substitute’s role might not be immediately apparent to most students. As a result, many students forget that substitutes are trained, qualified professionals. “They didn’t just pick us up off the side of the street!” Goldpaugh joked. “We have to have a license, [which] has to be renewed, you have to work [a certain number of] days.” Indeed, substituting is a more complex job than it seems; substitutes are bound by government policies and undergo intense job training. “Now, for [substitutes with teaching licenses], we only have to work one day a year,” Goldpaugh explained. “If you weren’t a regular teacher before, [you] have to put in 20 days,” she continued, “and every once in a while, we have to take a course online.” Another consideration for substitute teachers is their academic background. “They try to get someone who [is in the field], that’s their license,” Goldpaugh said. At the most basic level, a substitute’s job is to cover what the teacher has left for the class to do. However, sometimes substitutes are required to reach beyond their areas of expertise. “Since I’m an English teacher, I might, at the end of [an English] class, say, okay, pair-share what you’ve done,” Goldpaugh described. “But if it’s science or math, or any of the computer stuff, I’m like, go to Google Classroom—my job is to take attendance, because that’s not my field.” Such requirements ensure that substitutes are capable of serving their students’ needs while providing the flexibility that the job is known for.

Despite their love for the profession, substitutes also face their own unique set of challenges. For example, substitutes enjoy much less job stability as opposed to their full-time counterparts. One substitute teacher, who chose to remain anonymous due to concerns over putting their job at risk, shared their personal views on the profession. Anonymous substitute A has experienced much of the negative side of being a substitute teacher, noting that it is easy to become a scapegoat. “If there’s an incident, any substitute teacher within the vicinity of the incident can immediately be held at fault,” they said. “Unsupervised students are a huge liability.” Substitute teachers don’t have the same legal protections that full-time teachers do, especially without full union support. “As a substitute teacher, I can join the teachers’ union, but the union might not be as eager to defend me,” Anonymous substitute teacher A explained. “We’re pretty low on the pecking order.”

Though it has its challenges, substitute teaching allows more freedom than most other occupations. “Schools use SubCentral to find subs. I can see if there are any jobs available and sign up for them,” explained Anonymous substitute teacher A. This setup is desirable as substituting is often used as a second job. It can, for example, be a more stable side job for someone pursuing an unstable field, such as the arts.

Indeed, the flexibility of substituting allows substitute teachers to lead vibrant lives outside of school. From dancers to film critics to actors, Stuyvesant’s substitute teachers come from a wide variety of interests and professions. Duplan, for example, is an actor with many popular shows on his resume. “This is me on The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” he said, going through his past roles.

Goldpaugh is also an actress. “I was subbing for Ms. Fletcher, and this guy came up, and he said, ‘Excuse me, Ms. Goldpaugh, were you ever in The Sopranos?’ I said yeah, because he had been binge-watching all the Sopranos movies,” she recounted. “These are parts with lines. And so kids will go look me up, and they’ll watch the episodes!”

Substitute teachers contribute to the school community in more ways than just covering a class. Many also get involved in after-school clubs and activities, such as one of Goldpaugh’s coworkers, who leads Stuyvesant’s economics club. “She worked on Wall Street,” Goldpaugh explained. “She works with kids on these economics teams. She just took them down to Wharton, to Philadelphia, for a competition.” Goldpaugh herself, with a love of history, theater, and teaching, recently got involved in National History Day. “I know Mr. Moore. I work with him on the National History Day projects. That’s great for me, because I really get to know those kids on a personal level because I’m coaching them,” she described.

Though students may only see their substitute teacher for one period, their presence is a testament to the effort it takes to orchestrate a smooth-running school day. Substitutes bring much more to the classroom than another teacher’s lesson plan—they are a show of an educator’s flexibility, passion, and dedication to students. Getting to know them and understanding their contributions to our school reminds us that this school is supported by the work of many people, each of them worth recognizing.