How San Leandro USD had their "best year" of absence coverage

The challenge: district-wide sub shortages

In April 2017, San Leandro Unified School District (SLUSD) implemented a new strategic plan designed to prepare its students for college and beyond. Essential to that plan was staffing — from administrators to substitute teachers. SLUSD knew that they couldn’t provide students the best learning opportunities without quality educators in every classroom.

“We still found holes in trying to get substitutes,” Dr. Mike McLaughlin, SLUSD’s Superintendent says. “It was difficult, especially at the high-school level. I would go in on a Monday and we’d have multiple classes in the cafeteria with one teacher because we could not get a substitute.”

SLUSD serves 8,800 students across 13 schools in San Francisco’s East Bay and is recently named a College Board Advanced Placement® District of the Year. They have a highly diverse community with 38 languages spoken.

“With Swing in the picture, I can tell you this has been the best year in the six years I’ve been here,” McLaughlin says.

Tackling the sub shortage with Swing

The district uses Swing to cover teacher absences that its internal pool can’t. With its vast pool of available subs, admins can post a request in 30-60 seconds and fill an absence within minutes.

The benefits of getting classes covered

SLUSD’s partnership with Swing Education has paid big dividends for the district and its community. Administrators save time on coordinating absence coverage and fill more vacancies, parents are happy their children are getting more consistent learning opportunities, and the teacher’s union appreciates having additional substitute support.

“The union is not upset with us because I think there was a perception that we weren’t trying to hire more subs — which we were — they just weren’t out there.”

“It’s been good for students, too. From an academic perspective, we’re not only getting a teacher in the classroom, but the quality of substitute teachers has been strong as well,” McLaughlin says.