Have you ever wondered what it’s like being a substitute teacher in OUSD? Usually, you only see a substitute once and then never again. However, Mr. Carlisle has a unique position at Oakland Tech as a “STIP sub”. STIP stands for Substitute Teaching Incentive Program. It allows subs to work at and with the school instead of constantly traveling around.
“The difference is, I’m at Tech every day and I know where I’m going to be,” Mr. Carlisle explained. “I know what my hours are, I just don’t know exactly when or where my services will be needed on campus every day.”
STIP subs are a unique type of substitutes that are meant to fill in the gaps. Mr. Carlisle explains, “If all the substitutes show up and the teachers don’t need me, I’m left to do with my time whatever I want to,” His favorite things to do are help coach the girls tennis team, get to know students around campus, and teach journalism with Mr. Barney. Mr. Carlisle once worked as a journalist, so it’s especially close to his heart.
STIP subbing is not only better for the substitute, but it also lets students get to know their substitute, since they are always on campus. It’s often easy for students to disrespect substitutes because they don’t know them, but STIP subs can solve this problem.
Despite this, STIP jobs have been in danger. There was almost a teacher’s strike last May when OUSD was planning to remove over 65 STIP sub jobs to save money. If OUSD went through with it, Mr. Carlisle may no longer have been here at Tech with us.
While Mr. Carlisle was originally hoping to become a classroom teacher, this was the job available to him. He still hopes to eventually become a full time teacher, using the STIP sub position as a stepping stone to get there.
Teaching is much harder than subbing. You need to think about the students, prepare a lesson plan, grade, and manage other unexpected problems that will inevitably come up. While Mr. Carlisle says that the lazy part of him would love to stay a STIP sub forever, he acknowledges that being a teacher is not only more fulfilling, but also the future that he wants. Which leaves us with his final message to all Tech students, “Be kind to subs.”