GBRJ, Substitute Personnel

The Lincoln Parish School Board shall require the compilation of a list of qualified individuals to serve as day-by-day substitute teachers within the school district. The Superintendent or his/her designee shall prepare the list assuring that all those listed possess appropriate employment criteria, including verification of teachers' qualifications and certification.

Principals or their designated representatives shall call substitute teachers from the approved list in case of absence of a regular teacher. It shall be the responsibility of the principal and the regular teacher to ensure that the substitute teacher has the necessary instructions and materials to teach effectively, including textbooks, lesson plans, class rolls, schedules and an outline of local school procedures.

Retired teachers may be employed as substitute teachers provided that use of retired teachers as substitutes is in accordance with the rules and regulations established by the Teacher's Retirement System of Louisiana and pertinent statutory provisions.

Qualified teachers may also be selected to substitute for teachers who plan to be absent for long periods of time. Provisions shall be made for the hiring of, or contracting with applicable substitute teachers in these instances as developed by the Superintendent and staff.

Compensation paid to substitute teachers shall be based upon the degree status of the substitute in accordance with a pay schedule as set by the School Board.

Any school employee whose job does not require a teaching certificate who performs work as a substitute teacher for more than a single class period shall be compensated for that time at the rate of a substitute teacher. The principal or his/her designee shall authorize the school employee to act as a substitute teacher prior to the employee’s participation in the classroom as a substitute, and shall verify the hours as a substitute teacher for payroll purposes.

The School Board shall require the maintenance of a list of properly qualified and approved substitute personnel eligible to substitute for support personnel absent from work. Only persons approved by the School Board shall be eligible for employment as substitutes. Appropriate judgment as to actual need should be exercised before employment of a substitute for support personnel. Substitute personnel shall complete all trainings required under state law and by the Lincoln Parish School Board.

The Transportation Supervisor shall maintain a qualified substitute bus operator list and make every effort to solicit qualified substitute bus operators, who are not currently employed in full-time or part-time positions with the School Board, to fill absences and permanent positions as needed. Solicitation efforts should include public advertisements in newspapers, social media, the internet, through personal outreach, flyers, etc. Certification classes shall be held as often as needed to qualify bus operators. The substitute bus operator list shall be updated as changes occur. Substitute bus operators who remain on the list shall maintain their qualifications to drive a bus and attend all bus operator in-services which are required by the Lincoln Parish School Board.

A retired bus operator may be re-employed as a substitute bus operator only if such re-employment is permitted and made in accordance with state laws governing the re-employment of retired bus operators.

A substitute bus operator may only be used as a temporary resource until a permanent operator can be appointed to a vacant route. A substitute operator may not drive a vacant route for a period that exceeds the end of the school year during which the operator began driving the vacant route. A substitute bus operator may be hired in a permanent bus operator position in accordance with School Board policy GBD, Employment of Personnel, for bus operators.

A substitute bus operator shall be paid a daily rate as approved by the School Board, but in no case less than sixty-five percent (65%) of the daily rate of pay being paid the regular bus operator, to be computed by dividing the annual pay of the regular operator by the number of school days in the regularly scheduled session, exclusive of any compensation or mileage allowance for use of a privately owned bus.

A regular full time or part-time employee of the School Board shall not be dually employed in a full-time bus operator position. Employment of a regular employee in two (2) full-time positions is prohibited.

A regular full-time or part-time employee may be employed as a substitute bus operator only in an emergency, when a shortage of qualified substitute bus operators exists. The emergency due to shortage of substitutes shall be determined by the Transportation Supervisor and hiring made in accordance with the terms of this section of this policy.

A regular hourly or part-time support employee working in a non-exempt position under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) shall not be employed as a full-time bus operator, but may be employed as a substitute bus operator as long as all hours worked in all jobs performed by the support employee do not exceed a total of forty (40) hours in a work week.

A regular full-time or part-time employee shall receive appropriate compensation for serving as a substitute bus operator. All work as a substitute bus operator shall require the appropriate contribution to either a state retirement plan covering bus operators, Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA) or a School Board-approved FICA substitute plan.

Notification of regular employees to arrange service as a substitute bus operators shall only occur at the request of the Transportation Supervisor after all available regular substitute bus operators have been contacted. All efforts to use regular employees to fill substitute bus operator positions shall be kept to an absolute minimum. A regular employee shall be relieved from substitute bus operator duties as soon as a regular substitute bus operator becomes available.

Eligibility requirements for regular employees to serve as substitute bus operators shall be as follows:

The released work time is a period of time in which the employee is not teaching or supervising students in a classroom or other setting required under the employee’s normal position.
A substitute, either paid or unpaid, shall not be required in order to release the regular employee for his/her normal work duties.
The regular employee’s normal work performance is not impaired by the released work time to work as a substitute bus operator.
An additional position is not created at the regular employee’s assigned work location, as a result of the regular employee being unavailable to perform his/her normal assigned duties due to ongoing work performed as a substitute bus operator.
The total of all hours worked in a work week by a non-exempt employee in a regular support position shall not exceed forty (40) hours, including the time to be worked as a substitute bus operator. Time records shall be maintained and verified by the Transportation Supervisor accordingly.

In addition, the following regulations shall apply for regular employees serving as substitute bus operators:

Revised: October, 1997	Revised: October 2, 2012
Revised: June, 1998	Revised: December 2, 2014
Combined with GCD: June, 2007	Revised: January 7, 2020
Approved: May 6, 2008