Jen: Is it legal for me to substitute at my school one to two times per week and not service my special education students?
Teacher Issues /Substitutes: SUBSTITUTE BUT NO SPECIAL ED TEACHING
Special Education Law and Advocacy
Special Education Law and Advocacy
Jen: Is it legal for me to substitute at my school one to two times per week and not service my special education students?
What about vice versa? If a sped teacher is out, are they required to obtain a sub or do all responsibilities transfer to the gen ed teacher?
The special education services in the IEP should be continued. Since it was decided that another teacher should provide services it seems that these should not be given to the general ed teacher. But a sub is likely to need support from sp ed staff in providing services.
I am a SPED Inclusion teacher in Texas and there isn’t a substitute in my class due to leveling of teachers and it seems as though I am expected to be the teacher for my inclusion class without communication nor request. I walk in the class and no one is there or shows up. Am I supposed to be paid substitute pay on top of my salary?
In Texas can a Special Education teacher be used in a General Education classroom that does not have any Special Education students. We sign a paper at the end of the year that says something like ” we were always used in a Special Education Role.
Legally, yes, if the appropriate percentage of the time this happens is paid from general ed funds. Otherwise, this is an illegal use of special ed funding, and potentially creates problems for the district, and you. I say this as a retired TX special ed director, who also worked for the state education agency.
Can I legally tell my admin no when they try to pull me to substitute without losing my job?
Jessica, that likely depends on state law, & rules, & district policy. A school attorney should be able to answer this, but discussing your concerns about this with the sp ed director might get things changed. When I was a director an aide told me this was happening, & I was able to get it stopped.
Hi Jessica, If you are not qualified to be a substitute, you can and should tell your admin.
After schools re-opened, some districts had shortages of qualified teachers so districts moved the goalposts for qualified substitutes. You should be able to find your state’s requirements on the state Dept of Ed website.
I have the same problem. I am an inclusion teacher an I am asked to be a substitute and my students don’t have a teacher. I live in New Jersey. I have talked to he Union, the Director of Special Services and the principal with have received no help. What else canI do?
Legally, it would depend on the state’s laws on Special Education, I believe. If the minutes as per their IEPs/ARDs are not being met (e.g. co-teach for 45 minutes per day), then you should NOT be pulled to sub as sometimes depending on the master schedule, it will be difficult to make up during the instructional day and may require you to stay after-school for tutorials (or do summer school). Overall, you, as the Special Education teacher, would have to owe time despite you following administrators’ directives in regards to subbing. I would bring this to the leadership team in that you being not there to support the Special Education teacher is hurting their academic and social success. I wish you luck in solving this. Hope this helps.