Last year Dist 96 switched to an automated sub teacher system that forces the subs to constantly monitor a web site to snatch up a job when it is listed. It was supposed to have a feature where the classroom teachers could select the sub they preferred, but the Superintendent never had that portion of the project installed. Now this service, called AESOP, is marketing a "Jobulator" - no kidding, that's the name - that each sub can subscribe to for "Only $39.95 a year" to get instant warnings sent to your computer - if you happen to be sitting at one - when a job is posted. If this keeps going pretty soon they can dispense with this whole system and just have a "shape up" out in front of the District Office every morning where the subs can show up and fight over the job tokens as the stevedores did in "On the Waterfront." The ghost of Johnny Friendly is alive and well and right here. If you think this is garbage let the Super and the Board know - I did.
Dear Dr. Lamberson:
Back in August I wrote you about my wife’s concerns regarding the Aesop system and the failure to install the ability for individual teachers to preselect the substitute they wish to have for their class, but you failed to answer me. Yesterday my wife asked one of the tech people when that feature would be installed and he was evasive on the subject, so I’m asking you directly - “When will that feature, which Aesop touts as giving regular teachers more control, be activated?” It would be good for classroom continuity. Answer, please.
It happened that my wife was doing a half-day at Central yesterday and the teacher asked her if she was going to be there today, as well. My wife responded that she did not see that job and it must have been taken by someone else. So that class now gets two subs on consecutive days, perhaps a sub that doesn’t know the children or the routine. The way the system is working WITHOUT this feature installed, THIS HAPPENS ALL THE TIME. How about getting the complete system up and running NOW. It’s a simple install and would benefit the schools immensely.
This morning I saw that AESOP has begun to offer a subscription -for-fee based “Jobulator” notification system. EUREKA, you’ve done it! You’ve created an electronic “shape-up” where the substitute teachers can now compete with one-another electronically by paying a fee to be sent alerts to their computers. You can even have it ring a bell or chirp every minute when a job is available. You should change your name to Dr. Pavlov if not “Johnny Friendly.” Pretty soon the subs will learn to sit up and roll over - they can already beg for work and now they will be able to respond to ringing bells - assuming, that is, they decide to pay for it so they can get a leg up on their fellow subs.
Now the subs will be like pole dancers at a strip club where they have to pay a “performance fee” to work. How can you degrade these hard working, dedicated people like this? I guess the answer is, “easy.” Does the District get a cut on this, or maybe up there on the mountain top you can’t see what it’s like down in the mines.