Emergency Procedures for Substitute Teachers

Emergency Procedures for Substitute Teachers and How to Best Prepare Them

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

Request a demonstration of the Virtual Substitute Training by the App-Garden to find out how you can ensure each substitute has all the right tools necessary to keep your students safe in case of any emergency. We can include many of the items above in our online training process and save your district both money and time! We would love to take a moment of your time and give you a demonstration of what our application can do for you!