Emergency Procedures and How to Best Prepare Your Substitute Teachers | software for school administrators

Every day, teachers struggle with the thought of being out of the classroom due to sickness or other reasons for fear that the substitute teacher won’t be prepared to handle all aspects of the classroom including emergency procedures.

Teachers often choose to go to school sick rather than stay at home because they are worried about how substitutes will be able to handle emergency situations. This is something that shouldn’t be a problem if the right measures are taken when training and implementing substitute teachers.

Most school districts provide their substitute teachers with orientation training. However, with large substitute teacher training meetings, important information about safety drills, lockdowns, and other emergency procedures may be presented inconsistently or even skipped. 

An article by the NEA states that “Letting subs know how to handle these [emergency] issues is very important…” because the safety of the students is overall the top priority for school systems. Without these policies and procedures being understood and practiced by substitutes as well as teachers, there could be serious issues.

Here are a few steps to take to ensure that your substitute teachers are prepared to handle emergency situations:

1. The classroom teacher should provide a seating chart so that the substitute teacher is familiar with the names and location of each student.
2. The classroom teacher should supply the substitute teacher with a map of the school so that they are well aware of the location of the exits and all rooms.
3. The classroom teacher should list the names of helpful colleagues so that if the substitute teacher has any emergency questions, there is someone reliable to ask.
4. Also, if the substitute teacher has any responsibilities such as lunch duty or car line duty, the classroom teacher should explain those procedures.
5. The substitute teacher should keep track of who leaves the classroom, what time they left, and the destination so that all students can be accounted for in case of an emergency.
6. The substitute should become familiar with the student’s health concerns or past behavior problems.
   
   

Effective Substitute Training is an online, self-paced course that covers topics from age appropriateness to tips and tools to maintaining a classroom. All things an experienced teacher would know, but a willing substitute may not have any experience with. The best part? It doesn’t cost your district anything.

We provide online training for substitute teachers that can be customized for your district. Training substitute teachers online saves your district time and ensures compliance for your district.