It's not that we call out sick all the time; we do not. Part of it is the pay scale (welcome to education, kids), and part of it is that some of the subs are working multiple districts. When I subbed, I got called in to work every day, sometimes several times a day as the coordinators would jockey in position for us, trying to move us from one school to another as more teachers called out.
This morning one of the administrators strolls down the long, long hallway leading toward my end of the building. This means that someone has called out, and there probably isn't a sub. If I end up in the rotation to sub again during my meeting/planning time, at least so soon since I did so last week, I might blow a head gasket -- not because I have to pitch in, but because grades are due Friday, and I have a lot left to do.
"Nobody here," is the reply. "I'm heading to the next wing."
Whew. And ... ooops. If it were I who had to be out, I would hope people wouldn't view my absence as a harbinger of ill will. I have a moment of guilt, but just a moment, then I rejoice a little inside because I won't have my day chopped up having to cover a class in another room away from my piles of correcting and planning and disorganization.
Seriously, though. I think admin should have to wear black hooded capes like the Grim Reaper. If they're going to be harbingers of doom to our days, they should at least have the fun of dressing the part.
