of students can report to a large classroom or auditorium or lunch room for
a lesson taught by an assistant principal or, in a pinch, for a movie.
Third, administration can be creative. An assistant principal of orga-
nization surveyed staff in her school to determine which staff members
wanted coverages and which period(s) they were available. In this district,
by contract, any coverages beyond two per year were paid coverages. In
every school there are some teachers who could use additional pay. Such
a survey reduces coverages for teachers who do not want them and, at the
same time, provides them for teachers who do.
Another method this same assistant principal of organization used was
to have an unofficial coverage “debt.” Sometimes there are unavoidable
emergencies that may force a teacher to leave school early: his child is ill
and has to be picked up from school; there is an emergency with a relative
or close friend; the teacher does get suddenly ill during the school day. In
such cases, the assistant principal has to issue coverages for the remain-
ing classes in his program. However, this teacher “owes” the school these
coverages and is expected to give “free coverages” back to make up for
them. This isn’t exactly contractual, but it is fair. It should be noted that
the teacher having to leave could have had his salary docked for the time
missed; making up the coverages prevents this.
Finally, coverages are sometimes caused by staff acting as chaperones
on school trips. As much as possible, teachers going on the trips should
be expected to make arrangements for their own class coverages with their
colleagues. When these colleagues chaperone other trips, the favor could
be returned.
These procedures will not eliminate all coverages. Today, in most dis-
tricts, schools have to pay for substitute teachers and for individual class
coverages out of their regular budget—the more allotted for this, the less
available for other needs. Therefore, it is absolutely necessary to assign
as many “free” coverages to each teacher as allowed by the contract.
After this, the school is going to pay, whether it hires substitutes or gives
coverages, so implementing the preceding ideas will reduce emergency
coverages and, in the case of “owed coverages,” reduce the money that
needs to be allocated for coverages.
Some workplace issues involve staff other than teachers. The spring of
Mr. Thelen’s first year as principal, major budget cuts hit New York City.
96 Chapter 7