Footprints

SEMS stands for Substitute/Employee Management System. This is how I get substitute assignments. An employee signs into this system and creates an absence specifying the dates, times, location, wether or not a substitute is needed, and possibly requesting a certain substitute by locating them by name or phone number. The absence then goes into SEMS as an available job and begins calling substitutes on the phone. Subs can view this job online (at the Smart Find Express website) or hear it if they call in on the phone and can then either accept or deny the assignment. If a sub is requested then the job MUST be offered to this person before it is offered to any other sub. Only when this person denies the assignment is it available to all the other subs.

I've had problems with this system before. The main one being that I was requested for a job and SEMS offered it to someone else before me. If there is a problem such as this, the only remedy to the problem lies with the Sub Desk. Either the employee or the substitute must call the Sub Desk, explain the problem, and see if they can fix it. It can USUALLY be fixed without another problem. The down side to the Sub Desk is that they don't get into the office until 7am and then they never answer the phone! And it's stupid for both the sub and the employee to call and call and call and waste their time in the morning to try and fix the problem which by the time someone at the Sub Desk actually answers the phone, it's too late. What's too late? The substitute has 1 hour from the time they accept the job to arrive at the location. So if even if an assignment starts at 8:00, if the sub accepts it at 8:15, they have until 9:15 to get there.

Let me explain the situation that occurred this morning. Last night I accepted an assignment for a school in Chino from 9-3. Deon called me this morning asking if I could work for him from 7-1. At first I said I already had an assignment but then realized 7-1 would be better since I had too work at Sylvan in the afternoon and would be late if I kept the 9-3 position and I wouldn't have time to do my h/w in the afternoon. So I said I would just cancel the assignment I had and take his instead. Deon had already requested another sub, Manny, who was unavailable so I should have been able to accept it. Unfortunately, I couldn't view or hear the assignment. I couldn't view or hear ANY available assignments! Odd. Deon tried to cancel his absence and create a new one requesting me (instead of Manny), but there was no option to do so (which is also odd because there used to be that option).

We both began calling the sub desk to see what was wrong with the system and so they could assign that absence to me (they are like the god of SEMS, usually). But with it being only 6:25 am, nobody was there to answer the phone. We both kept calling anyway. Someone finally answered me at 7:20 and said that the substitute, who had picked up the assignment at 6:30, would have been on her way already and it was too late to assign it to me, especially because Manny had been requested and not me. Deon called me 20 minutes later saying that nobody had shown up yet and asked if I'd gotten the absence. I explained what the sub desk lady (Pam) told me and he said Pam had told him that the sub didn't pick it up until 6:59am. That's a whole half hour later than when Pam told ME the sub picked it up! So at 7:20 then, when I spoke to Pam, it wouldn't have been too late to change the assignment to me because the sub still had 40 minutes to get there. So why did she say so? I still don't know. And why couldn't I see any available jobs? Pam said it was because I cancelled my previously assigned job and SEMS believed I wasn't available to accept any. That's new. SEMS has never thought that about me before when I cancelled an assignment.

So I'm angry that I'm not working today, at all, because by the time everything was figured out, there were no jobs available for me to work anywhere that the sub desk could assign me to. I'm also angry that I had to spend all morning on the phone trying to figure out why I couldn't view or accept any assignments including the one Deon wanted to request me for but couldn't. Deon is angry that he had to spend all morning (on his day off!) calling as well just to try and get a good sub in his classroom, which he didn't even get. Deon's teacher and other assistant are angry that they got a sub they don't know who showed up more than an hour after school began. A sub who doesn't know them, the kids, the schedule, or how things are run. A sub who knows these things makes the day go a whole lot smoother for the classroom when a staff member is absent, which is why they have an option to request certain subs in the first place.

I'm not sure if you readers understand this situation at all and why it is so frustrating for me right now, but I just needed to vent my frustrations! I do have other issues with SEMS, but I'll save you the pain and not go into it. But it's days like today I wish I had a permanent position or a completely different job.

• I know it's been a long time since my last post. There have been many topics I have thought about posting, but never found the time or had the energy or drive to do it. I'm forgetting about all of those posts now since it's far too late.
• What's on my mind today relates to my work. There is one school that I sub at regulary. It is a junior high/high school specifically for kids that are classified as SED-Severely Emotionally Disturbed. Most of these kids have been arrested for one reason or another. Some may not be technically SED, but fall under something else which still results in them attending this school.
• I've become good friends with many of the workers here including teachers, teacher's assistants, secretaries, and even one or two members of the administration. Last week I was invited to their staff Christmas party. I felt so appreciated and had a really great time! Last week I was also added to the staff birthday board that's in the office. They took down my birthday and printed my name on a label which they then put under the month of June with the rest of the June babies. Again, felt very appreciated! There have been many times when I've been asked to join a group of staff for some wings after work, even when I don't work at their school that day. So I really enjoy working with these really fun people who have accepted me into their community and gladly accept assignments when requested.
• But today kinda sucked. In fact, I've worked at this particular school four times in the last week and a half. Three of these days were in the same classroom-C1. The assistants and the students in this room are great! I have a great time with them. I've known most of the kids for a couple years now and they pretty much listen to what I have to say. My problem is the actual teacher-Mrs. Tibbetts. I can say alot of really negative things about her personality and teaching (in)abilities, but I'll just mention a few things that really have erked me since I've worked with her recently.

1. She calls me Rachel. I've worked in her classroom maybe 10 times or more in the last year and she still calls me Rachel. No, she's never met my sister and didn't even know I had a sister named Rachel till I told her when she apologized after a STUDENT yelled at and corrected her in my defense. She never apologized when I corrected her and after a while I just stopped correcting her because it was stupid.

2. She sends me on errands to the office non-stop (I think just to get me out of the room). While I've become greater friends with the office staff because of her errands that she sends me on one at a time, as opposed to all at once, it's really annoying to be able to say that I made 8 trips to the office during the first HOUR of school. 3 of those trips were in the first 15 minutes. (I will also mention here that Sterling, the other assistant in the room, had brought donuts on this day and it seemed like every time I was about to pick one up, she called my name. And I missed most of the movie--both times--that day)

3. It was my fault that the staff member who usually does the monthly attendence wasn't there. I don't know how to do it, I'm just a substitute. Why doesn't Sterling know how to do it? Wait, why doesn't Mrs. Tibbetts know how to do it? Why is it MY fault nobody knows how to do it and it can't get done because the secretary's too busy to explain it to somebody (which would have been me and had no effect on any situations like this in the future if I wasn't there)?

4. Not only does she give me ridiculous busy work jobs and blame me for everyone (including herself) being ignorant of the school's attendence procedures, she also gives me jobs I REALLY shouldn't be doing. Such as calling parents to verify absences. A SUBSTITUTE should not be calling and talking to parents about why their kid wasn't at school on a previous day of the week. When I didn't jump up right away to do the unethical task, she folded her hands in front of her and said indignantly, "Miss Rachel, I asked you to make phone calls. Are you going to do that for me?" I replied sweetly with "Mr. Sterling said he'll do it since he's your permanent assistant." But I was boiling inside! (I had just sat down and started to watch the movie, Sterling hadn't moved all day except to get a donut!)

5. She actually asked her assistants NOT to request me anymore! I figured this out today when I saw an assignment for Miss Julie and it didn't say "requested" like usual. I took it anyway since it was the only one available and I didn't work yesterday because there were none available. I also took it because I enjoy it there and I really just wanted to spite her by showing up even though I KNEW she had asked her not to request me. When I asked Sterling if she had done that, he didn't answer right away then said, "She doesn't like any subs really...but I enjoy working with you!"

• Well, I don't like her much either. That won't stop me from working in her room though. I've never worked somewhere and had a staff member just not like me. They have usually asked for my number (to request me with) and asked me to come back. I have alot of regular schools I work at and therefore, know alot of people, because they express appreciation for my work ethic and abilities. So it is wierd to KNOW for a fact that a teacher does not like me. Even though she's not one whose opinion I hold very highly at all, it's still odd. And it's only that much worse because the two assistants and the students appreciate my presence in the classroom. And I enjoy their's--most days. So do I ignore her immature actions and work there anyway? or succumb to her desires and deny those assignments for her room?
• Oh, I was actually pretty excited when I arrived today and learned that she was doing CPI (Crisis Prevention and Intervention-something like that) training today and tomorrow so she'd be absent. Yeah, I day without her-fun. Of course, her substitute was on the phone the entire time and ended up leaving after 2 hours because she hit her head on the tv set.........That's all I'll say about that.