Many East Baton Rouge schools fail to support substitute teachers. A substitute teacher may be a teacher within the school system, covering for another teacher, or they may be a contract employee, such as I am, hired by an outside contractor.
At issue is the majority of the high schools in the EBR school system failing to enforce a system-wide rule which requires students to wear picture ID badges visible at all times.
The policy is obviously a good one. It helps ensure that everyone on campus truly belongs there.
But this policy especially helps a substitute teacher in the classroom to maintain discipline. For example, if a student asks to leave the classroom to use the restroom, how will the teacher have some controls that ensure the student will return?
Or suppose the student commits a minor infraction, not one big enough for the teacher to call the front office, but a challenge nevertheless? I would still want to write up that student, but I can’t unless I know the name.
It is an easy matter to discover which schools enforce the ID policy. In the future, I will only volunteer to substitute teach in those schools. I urge other substitute teachers to do the same.
MICHAEL McCAUGHEY
Baton Rouge
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