POLICIES & EXPECTATIONS

Expectations

As a substitute teacher, you are expected to adhere to all general rules of professionalism including showing up to the school on time (early is even better!) to ensure that you have the proper time to get acclimated to the classroom and the school before the students arrive in the morning. If you have any questions regarding your start and end times, please contact your registrar prior to your first day.

You will also be expected to follow the specific dress code required by your individual school. If you are unsure of what is acceptable, we recommend following a business casual dress code, refraining from wearing jeans unless otherwise communicated that jeans are acceptable.

It will be necessary that you follow the lesson plans and schedule provided to you as closely as possible. This will help students to be more comfortable as they will be operating within their normal routine and will ensure that they continue to learn the necessary information for the day so they do not fall behind.

As you near the end of the day, please have students pick up their learning space and ensure that the classroom looks just as neat and tidy as it did when you arrived in the morning. This will not only set the teacher up for success the next day, but it is also a great help to the custodial staff in charge of cleaning for the night.

Policies and Procedures

Attendance

Please take attendance at the beginning of each day, before you begin the lesson. When taking attendance, please ask students whether they will be having home lunch, school lunch, or milk and mark their choice on the attendance sheet. You are not responsible to keep track of tardies, that is the responsibility of the front office. Please check with your dean or grade level team members about the specific process for reporting absences to the office.

Bathroom use

Please discuss any questions you may have about students using the bathroom outside of designated times with your dean or team members as this will be school and grade-level specific. If you need to use the bathroom during the day, please notify a grade-level teammate so that they can supervise your class while you are out. You should never leave your students unattended. There are staff bathrooms located within the school that any of your team members should be able to direct you to. Please use these bathrooms and not the student bathrooms.

Dress code

Substitutes are required to follow the dress code communicated to them by their school. If no such communication was provided, then please follow a general business casual dress code. If students are in violation of their dress code, please report incidents to your dean and leave a note for their teacher to follow up when they return. It is not your responsibility to provide discipline for dress-code violations unless otherwise communicated.

Technology

Every student has their own Chromebook and should know how to log in. If you need any assistance in this area, please see your teacher teammates. If you have any trouble with any other technology throughout the day, each school has a technology specialist who can assist you with any needs you may have.

Dismissal

Students should be packed up and ready to leave by dismissal time. We suggest beginning this process about 10 minutes before dismissal time. Please have students clean up their space before leaving as well to help teach responsibility and help out the custodial staff. When it is time for dismissal, you will need to have a grade-level team member assist you in setting up our dismissal program (Driveline). Driveline will be displayed on the whiteboard and each student's name will pop up on the board when it is their turn to leave. Students must remain in the classroom until they are called on the board or by walkie-talkie. They then must go directly to the indicated exit.

Questions or Concerns

If you have any questions or concerns that you are unable to address, please get in contact with your dean or your grade-level teammates. For issues regarding discipline or repeated issues with a student, please contact your dean. For questions regarding class schedule, content, or attendance and dismissal procedures, your grade-level teammates should be able to assist you. Please also leave the teacher you are subbing for notes so that they may follow-up if a situation requires it.

School Safety

The safety of our students and staff is of the utmost importance to us. In order to be sure that the students are provided with a safe environment to learn in, we ask that you take the time to read over the following policies and procedures regarding emergency or drill situations.

As a reminder, according to federal and state requirements, it is mandatory for all substitute teachers to receive training on child abuse and neglect as well as when and how to report that. Please make sure that you have completed the paid, online training through Vector on this topic. Instructions were sent to you via your nhaschools.com email. If you are unable to access your email or the Vector training, please email techsupport@nhaschools.com with questions.

In addition to this training, we ask that you please review the safety documents provided to you by your registrar at the beginning of your first day. You should receive a packet containing exit plans and emergency situation procedures that you can reference should the need arise. Furthermore, each classroom is equipped with a safety vest and backpack that you will need to bring with you if you need to exit the school for any reason. You can find a map of emergency exits located just inside the door to your classroom.

Classroom doors should remained locked at all times throughout the school day, whether the room is occupied or unoccupied.

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