Omid Memarian- Unlike most other classes in McClaymonds High School, Mr. Williams’ class had its door ajar, the noise fidgeting through the hallway in lieu of the students. Pacing by the door, Mr. Williams was busy negotiating with three students who were insisting on an early departure, while three boys in the left corner laughed loudly, giving each other high fives. A tall girl in a red T-shirt was arranging her braids in the mirror on the wall behind Mr. Williams, while a couple students were making a headstart on their newly assigned math homework, oblivious of the ensuing chaos.

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Although not an ideal setting for learning, at least these students had the luxury of a substitute teacher. Often when teachers are unable to make it to school, students are dispersed to other classes. Schools throughout Oakland have problems in hiring and keeping substitute teachers, and according to some educators, this problem is exaggerated in West Oakland due to its high poverty rate.

“Students don’t have medical care, dental care and have a lot of issues associated with poverty,” said Betty Olson-Jones, Director of Oakland Education Association. “West Oakland is not separate from the rest of Oakland, just that sometimes there are substitutes who don’t want to go to West Oakland because the problems are greater. Same thing in East Oakland. Schools are very under-funded.” Consequently, teaching is not the only thing substitute teachers have to worry about.

During the last years, keeping subs efficient within the school systems has been a challenge for Oakland schools. The major problems for substitute teachers in Oakland include difficulties of providing lesson plans, financials problems, lack of support from the principals’ support, difficult students and schools. But when it comes to west Oakland, difficulties seem greater.Sara Rayner has taught in West Oakland for three years and is now coaching in a program for new teachers so they can survive their first year in Oakland.

She believes that the lack of enforcement on subs’ work also affects the academic plans in schools. Rayner who has substituted in different districts in Oakland says that when she subs in some districts, she has to report on how the day went, whether a lesson plan was available, whether she was able to follow it, and if necessary was available to her.; She has to return a carbon copy of the report to the teacher and the Principal.

“In West Oakland I have never had to do that. Maybe I have been at the wrong schools,” she said. “There is no enforcement and I think a lot of times an emergency happens and you just don’t have a lesson plan.” She believes that Oakland school lack follow through. “Teachers need to have backup plans, so that when there is a substitute, the academic learning continues.”

“Substitute teachers are pretty much like students,” says Williams, 62, who has been a substitute teacher in Oakland High Schools including McClaymonds for almost twenty-five years. “You have teachers who really care and try to teach as best as they can. They run the gamut from all different personalities, from some who would do it just for the money and no teaching is going on.”

Rayner explains what the children do when there is no lesson plan for subs: “They sometimes play games, sometimes play stories, read books…some substitute will go and find the proper curriculum that the kids should be doing and if there is an organized classroom, they can follow along with that many teachers have backup sub-lesson plans, but a lot of them don’t.”

Krestin Eschner, 27, who has been teaching in McClaymond High School for three years, provides lesson plans for the substitutes. “I usually leave a lesson plan and I try to make worksheets which are needed before I leave. So, it all ends up being the same amount of work really, even though I’m not there”.

“A lot of the kids tell me that all the subs say is: ‘I don’t care what you do. But you can’t leave.’ When I get back, nothing I wanted to have done is done,” said Cara Johnson, 24, another teacher in McClamond High School.

Johnson talked about some nightmare stories with subs, another aspect of sub-teachers in Oakland. “One sub last year cussed at the Principal and flipped out my entire class of students, because they were being really rowdy and he didn’t have control over the room at all, and then he just got really upset, and the Principal came down and he walked out yelling at the Principal.”

“I think the main cause of burnout is teachers’ loosing control in the classrooms,” stated Rayner. “The kids are from a difficult population, with lots of special needs, many of them don’t have a stable home life. Also, we have lots of English learners…their diverse needs and requirements are different. That’s really difficult.” In her program, she gives the teachers support, encouragement, and survival skills. They do not burn out the first year.

On the other hand, subs complain that some teachers never leave a lesson plan. So they go in there with having no idea what to do.

Williams says substitute teachers are treated as sub-teachers. “We are made to feel that we should be happy that we got a job!’ and then we get [very] little money. That bothers me a lot,” he says. “On the other hand, it’s an easy job. It’s not a hard job at all. And I work when I want to.”

There are success stories as well. Johnson explains that one of the days she was out, the school had a teacher named Mr. White. “The next day I got back to the school and was anticipating that there would be a lot of chaos in the class. But everyone said the sub yesterday was amazing; the kids completed their assignments and he also had an interesting group discussion. This year, I found out that the same sub, Mr. White, is now working as a full time teacher at the high school.”