Denver Public Schools Human Resources

HR > Substitutes

What's News for Substitute Teachers!

Substitute Satisfaction Survey. We heard you loud and clear - thank you for your time and feedback! The two overwhelming themes that you brought to our attention are “location matters” and “school support.” Let us address the issue of location matters first. Many of you stated that a primary reason why you sub at the schools you do is because the school is close to your home. So, we are changing the way we manage our substitute pool.

We have moved to a Quadrant Model. In this model, we have 5 different substitute pools respective to 5 geographic areas: 1) Northwest, 2) Northeast, 3) Far North East, 4) Southwest, 5) and Southeast. Interestingly enough, our data shows that the majority of you already prefer a specific work area. So, we have aligned SEMS, our substitute system, to call you for the jobs in the area you prefer to work. We also noticed a small group of you who are truly actively subbing in several areas, and we have made sure that you can continue to substitute in our schools as you are already doing. With current gas prices, it only makes sense that we match you with assignments that are closest to your home! Even more so, it will allow us as a district to better manage our sub pools to ensure we have enough subs hired to cover our sub needs in all five areas. We also believe this model supports relationship building between guest teachers, schools and students.

Human Resources will also be partnering with Instructional Superintendents and schools to be Guest Teacher Ready. Within the first half of the school year, we aim to implement guest teacher folders at each school. These folders will provide all the information you need in order to successfully guest teach any assignment. Lesson plans, seating charts, who to go to for support, school procedures and more will be included in these folders. Principals have also asked for professional development on guest teacher best practices. So in September, HR will hold this training to share best practices on how to create a supportive work environment for our guest teachers. Lastly, we are asking you at the end of each assignment at the end of your day to complete a Guest Teacher Ready survey. We will be asking you 5 sub ready questions. Your feedback will serve to help us keep a pulse on how we are doing with being guest teacher ready schools.

Attaining a 100% district substitute fill rate is a top priority for this school year. You are an important part of meeting this goal! We must work together to make sure students receive the best education experience at Denver Public Schools. Therefore, we can not disappoint our students and teachers by not meeting this goal. We will post monthly metrics on our substitute home page so that together we can track our progress in achieving this goal. We are also implementing a new expectation for our guest teachers. Guest teachers must aim to work 5 full days a month in order to remain active in our sub pool. If each of you works a minimum of 5 full days a month, we can achieve a 100% district wide substitute fill rate! Human resources will be monitoring your work activity as part of our efforts to ensure your work activity is contributing to meeting our 100% fill rate goal. Not meeting this expectation during periods of time when we are not at a 100% fill rate will not be acceptable and may impact your active status in our sub pool.

On September 5, 2008 our SEMS substitute system will be upgraded to SmartFindExpress (SFE). The change between these systems will appear minimal to you. This upgrade provides added security to those who can access the system. Therefore, you will need your DPSID and PIN to access the new system. The look and feel of SFE is similar to SEMS; however, it will be slightly different. Therefore, you can start to review the SFE quick reference guide, which includes screen shots, to start familiarizing yourself with this new system. This guide is available on the Substitute home page in the Information & Resources section. Check your email to make sure we successfully launch this new system.

Communication. Communication. Communication. All guest teacher communication will occur through both your DPS email and the substitute home page: http://hr.dpsk12.org/substitutes/. We highly encourage you to check in weekly with us to make sure you do not miss any important announcements. To get set up with your DPS email account, call the DOTS Hotline at 720-423-3888.

Introducing Paperless Pay Stubs! Beginning September 30, 2008, DPS will implement a more cost effective process by going to “Paperless Pay Stubs”. All active DPS employees have access to view and print their pay stubs using Employee Self Service.

Did you know that DPS offers a Super Sub pay rate? Earn a $137.00 super sub daily rate after subbing 480 hours. Retired teachers earn a $150.00 super sub daily rate. Read more on how you can become eligible.