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By Cindy Reitzi
I walk in, yawning, still adjusting to the morning. Sadie, the secretary, is on the phone performing familiar beginning-of-the-year rituals, a list of teachers’ names and PIN numbers before her.
“Yes, I do,” she laughs, good-naturedly, used to the drill. “Your pin number is _______... You’re welcome.”
Another school year, another transition. Change is good. Especially when it makes life easier. The Madison schools are back to our new, old system. Like 60’s clothing designs making a comeback, Subfinder, the computerized call-in system for substitute teachers, is back. Unlike some 60’s styles that should have remained buried (elephant bells and various permutations of fringe), this old again/new again change is welcome.
Our old, new system, SEMS, is gone. Let’s just say, I wasn’t a fan. Chronologically, SEMS was my third district incarnation of “How to Call a Sub.” The evolution went something like this: First, we had a wonderful human being named Judy Togstad who called us in the morning, parceling out assignments like good poker hands, balancing assignments with stress levels and masterfully massaging morale. Author Stephen Covey would probably describe Judy as a “highly successful person” since she always “put people first.”
Judy had better negotiating skills than The Godfather about “offers you couldn’t refuse” but was much nicer about them. Judy could talk me into anything challenging and, because she was Judy, I did it willingly.
“Cindy, I’ve got a 9th-grade, self-contained, special ed. How ‘bout it?”
“Well...” (thinking: usually difficult)
“Tell you what,” she’d haggle, “I’ll give you AP English or the LMC next time.”
“Deal.”
Judy was so effective that they replaced her (budget cuts). Judy got phased out to institute Subfinder. Initially, I resented Subfinder for displacing Judy, the warm human voice of the district on the other end. But after adjusting to Subfinder’s metallic voice, I actually found it convenient. I could call in any hour of the day to job-shop, I usually had a choice of assignments and didn’t always have to wait for the phone to ring. I could cancel assignments if I got a teacher request or if I made a mistake on the system. It even gave accurate directions to each school. Like with Judy, I could line up assignments ahead of time and add some predictability to my schedule. I liked the choices and flexibility. Considering how flexible I have to be, I think that’s only fair. As machines went, it was friendly.
Subfinder, in turn, got deposed in favor of SEMS, the Substitute Employee Management System. I went from a professional with choice to a managed employee. Instead of actually being able to job-shop on the phone or Web site, (false advertising in the SEMS marketing package), I was hostage to the telephone for many jobs: invariably picking up SEMS jobs in traffic and frequently interrupting work at my other job to answer ringing calls. If I made a keystroke mistake or needed to cancel an assignment to fulfill a last minute request, the job was locked in until I could talk to a person downtown, leaving everyone involved hanging.
On one occasion, a teacher had asked me to sub for several days. We planned it out a month ahead of time, organizing curriculum and discussing strategies. If Subfinder was user-friendly, SEMS was positively hostile to subs as well as teachers requesting subs. I found that out the day I waited for the expected request to ring in, turning down job after job, until… I had no job. The teacher used the correct procedure to request me – that wasn’t the problem. The problem was that her request got a busy signal (from another SEMS line calling in) and bumped it to another sub who picked up my job. Sighing at a familiar situation, the downtown secretary informed me that SEMS doesn’t keep calling on the day of the assignment, it just jettisons the assignment to the next sub, even if I’m requested.
“Why doesn’t it warn you about that in the instruction brochure?” I asked. She did the verbal equivalent of shrugging her shoulders.
“You just have to know, I guess.”
Next time, let me in on the secret, I thought.
So, this year we’ve re-evolved to our new old system. I’m much happier with this year’s beginning, and my morale is good. This time, I didn’t start the school year as a stressed-out cynic, waiting for the other shoe to drop, and dreading the next screw-up affecting my income. The second week of school I called in and chose the job I wanted that suited my skills.
As much as I sometimes view institutions as hierarchical, inflexible bureaucracies, bringing back Subfinder, a system that works and does what it’s supposed to do, gives me hope that institutions can change and adjust, just like the rest of us individuals can.
Nostalgia aside, things do have a way of revolving full circle. As historians will invariably tell you, everything old is new again.
Posted October 3, 2007