I accepted an assignment at the "upper campus" of a local school, then went and reported to the office at the stated time. It turns out that after about fifteen minutes I was told that the regular teacher had shown up, but that everyone responsible for posting jobs had failed to cancel the job request. I was asked then to go to the "lower campus" to see if I was needed there. I did so, reported in, and waited around another fifteen minutes until I was told there was no need for a substitute teacher there, either. However, they did have a job for me. I was assigned the task of sitting in a chair (or standing and wandering around) in the main entrance lobby and directing everyone to their right into an office where they would receive a piece of paper allowing them to enter the school -- or, if they were strangers who had no business there, they would be asked to leave the school watched to see that they did so. I was given a Walkie-Talkie by the head of security, and took my place by the front door.
Most students complied automatically and without a fuss when I asked them to check in first before entering. Two who did not, however, stick in my mind. The first was an arrogant Caucasian kid wearing a big sombrero who simply ignored me both times I politely requested that he report to the attendance office to get an admit slip. The second was an African-American kid, who simply reeked ghetto, and who looked me straight in the eye and then just ignored me, walking past into the corridor. In each case I informed security via Walkie-Talkie and the took care of the situation.
After two hours, the principal came by and said that I had to stop the job because of union regulations, and relieved me of my Walkie-Talkie. Since I had reported for work and signed in at both campuses, I was going to get paid anyway, so this didn't bother me. I signed out. The head of security, someone I had worked with for several years, told me he was sorry things had worked out this way and as far as he was concerned I had been doing the job better than the normal security man he usually had doing it.
On another note, I had lunch with one of my school associates yesterday and we had a conversation about the situation in our city's schools, and how for substitutes it seems to be getting worse and worse every year. She suggested that I sub for a different but nearby city, where the kids were much better behaved and generally didn't seem to have the attitude that our city's kids had. "You know," she said. "In this city, you're dealing with as bunch of crack babies."
Most students complied automatically and without a fuss when I asked them to check in first before entering. Two who did not, however, stick in my mind. The first was an arrogant Caucasian kid wearing a big sombrero who simply ignored me both times I politely requested that he report to the attendance office to get an admit slip. The second was an African-American kid, who simply reeked ghetto, and who looked me straight in the eye and then just ignored me, walking past into the corridor. In each case I informed security via Walkie-Talkie and the took care of the situation.
After two hours, the principal came by and said that I had to stop the job because of union regulations, and relieved me of my Walkie-Talkie. Since I had reported for work and signed in at both campuses, I was going to get paid anyway, so this didn't bother me. I signed out. The head of security, someone I had worked with for several years, told me he was sorry things had worked out this way and as far as he was concerned I had been doing the job better than the normal security man he usually had doing it.
On another note, I had lunch with one of my school associates yesterday and we had a conversation about the situation in our city's schools, and how for substitutes it seems to be getting worse and worse every year. She suggested that I sub for a different but nearby city, where the kids were much better behaved and generally didn't seem to have the attitude that our city's kids had. "You know," she said. "In this city, you're dealing with as bunch of crack babies."
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