School districts scramble for subs Background checks, fingerprints turn off potential fill-in teachers

TURNER – SAD 52 notified its 110 substitute teachers earlier this summer that they had to submit background checks and fingerprints to teach this year.

District officials have heard back from only a third or so of the teachers – leaving administrators concerned that they will be scrambling for substitutes when school starts in a few weeks.

Superintendent Scott Verrill, whose district includes Turner, Leeds and Greene, said he thinks some substitutes don’t like the new state requirement for background checks and fingerprints, or the inconvenience.

In Houlton, where there already is a “very limited list” of substitute teachers, high school Principal Michael Chadwick said the problem is bound to worsen because of the new requirement.

People who would have subbed now will be turned off because they not only have to pay to be fingerprinted but they also must drive 50 miles to Presque Isle to have it done, he said Wednesday.

“Some people who used to sub aren’t doing it any longer because of the hassle,” he said. “I think they’re saying, ‘this is more trouble than it’s worth.”‘

Further contributing to the need for substitutes is the increased number of workshops teachers must attend, Chadwick said. School started this week and already two teachers are out for “workshop days for the MEA conference,” he said. “If I have to send my seventh-grade teachers to a laptop workshop I need to hire five subs to cover them for the day. My entire list can be depleted for just one state workshop.”

The supply of substitutes has been dwindling over the last several years, according to Old Town Superintendent Owen Maurais. “It’s not unusual for a principal to call 10 or 15 people in the morning during the real busy times of the year” in January and February, he said Wednesday.

Another reason for the problem is that Old Town has had to hire additional education technicians to work with students with disabilities, Maurais said, noting that the list for both positions contains many of the same names.

But in Guilford, SAD 4 Superintendent Matthew Oliver said he’s not having any problems getting substitutes.

“As of August 13, 20 substitute teachers have been fingerprinted and are ready to roll,” he said.

The district periodically offers a substitute teaching class through adult education, he said. “It’s an incentive. If you take the class you move up on the compensation scale. It’s been a great recruiting tool.”

Other school districts are reporting shortages.

At SAD 15, which includes Gray and New Gloucester, officials said they have heard from only half of last year’s substitutes.

In Peru, Superintendent John Tuner said he needs about 10 people in his pool of substitute teachers. He has only five or six.

Fingerprinting and background checks are hassles that some substitutes – especially those who work only occasionally – don’t want to deal with, he said.

Others say the problem is exacerbated by low pay and competition for qualified substitutes among neighboring school systems.

Two years ago, SAD 43 – which includes Byron, Mexico, Roxbury, and Rumford – raised its pay for teacher-certified substitutes from $55 a day to $75 a day.

The increase helped, Superintendent Danny Michaud said. But when teachers call in sick, he still tries to sprint for the phone before his counterparts in Peru and Dixfield do.

“It’s a tight market,” Michaud said.

For the time being, Verrill is urging his substitutes to get fingerprinted – and praying that they do it soon.

“We’re keeping our fingers crossed that there are a lot of people out there who have already had their fingerprinting done and just haven’t notified us yet,” Verrill said.

Bangor Daily News reporter Ruth-Ellen Cohen contributed to this report.