On the Friday before Labor Day weekend, Veronica Reyes asked a group of attentive students at Silva Magnet High School in South El Paso to describe the three branches of government.

It had been at least 14 years since Reyes, who is the assistant superintendent of specialized learning services at the El Paso Independent School District, last worked as a teacher.

That was until EPISD began its central office substitute program, which requires salaried administrative employees who do not work on a school campus to substitute classes four days a semester — or eight days a year — on top of their regular duties. It is the only major district in the region that requires administrators to substitute.

“It brings us back to why we started. This is where the majority of your administrators will begin, right in the classroom. So, it’s always nice to keep that connection with students,” Reyes said as students worked on an assignment for their dual-credit government class.

The program is intended to help the district ensure it has enough substitutes every day for all its absent teachers and give administrators a better understanding of a school’s needs, said Guy Rosales, EPISD’s assistant superintendent of teaching and learning.

“It really helps in our role to be connected to what campuses are doing and experiencing day to day, as that helps to inform our jobs at central office. So, we really get that teacher perspective when we’re making decisions and moving forward,” Rosales said.

Veronica Reyes, El Paso Independent School District assistant superintendent of specialized learning services, teaches a dual-credit government class at Silva Magnet High School. Reyes returned to the classroom as part of a new district initiative requiring central office administrators to serve as substitute teachers eight days a year. (Luis Torres / El Paso Matters)

It will also help the district save money after it faced a budget crisis that this summer forced EPISD to declare financial exigency and lay off dozens of employees to cut payroll costs.

“Any time a teacher’s out, the district would incur the expense of paying for a substitute, and that range varies depending on the credentials of the person that’s taking that role. So, by having this programming offsets some of what we would spend on substitutes,” Rosales added.

EPISD substitutes are paid $100-$125 a day. The 255 administrative employees in the program, including members of the communications and human resources departments, will be paid their regular salary.

District officials said they expect to save up to $255,000 a year if all employees substitute the required eight days.

Besides giving campuses a budget that can be used on substitutes, EPISD normally spends an additional $4 million a year covering absent teachers.

Deputy Superintendent David Bates said the district eliminated those $4 million in expenses by converting vacant teaching positions into long-term substitutes, canceling training sessions that required teachers to be pulled out of class, implementing the central office substitution initiative and improving teacher attendance.

Bates said EPISD began using the state’s Teacher Incentive Allotment program, which raises teachers’ pay based on performance and requires an employee to be in a teaching role for at least 50% of the day for at least 180 days or 100% of the day for at least 90 days.

Bates said because of the allotment program, the district has had 2,700 fewer teacher absences than it did this time last year.

“I think we’re going to actually save more than the $4 million, but I won’t know that until April,” Bates said.

El Paso Teachers Association President Norma De La Rosa said the initiative will likely help district leaders make better decisions that directly impact the classroom, but noted it has affected substitutes’ ability to find work.

“I think right now the biggest con that we’re hearing is coming from substitutes themselves … that they’re not getting called as frequently to do the jobs,” De La Rosa said.

“I know some substitutes. That’s the only job they’ve ever had. So, for some of them, it’s their livelihood,” she added.

Bates said there will likely still be enough work for substitutes as teachers call in sick throughout the year, but may not get the same classes or campuses they are used to.

“There’s still plenty of sub opportunities, I just think it’s hard to try to save money for the district, be fiscally responsible, make sure that teachers stay in front of the kids, and employ everyone,” Bates said.

El Paso Independent School District Superintendent Brian Lusk teaches a fourth-grade dual-language class at Logan Elementary School. Lusk developed the district’s new initiative requiring central office administrators to serve as substitute teachers eight days a year. (Luis Torres / El Paso Matters)

The central office substitute program is the brainchild of Superintendent Brian Lusk, who declined El Paso Matters’ request for an interview. Lusk substituted a fourth-grade dual-language class on Friday at Logan Elementary School, where he taught students a physics lesson on simple machines.

Substitutes at EPISD are required to have a minimum of 30 hours of college credit and a high school diploma or GED. They do not need to hold a teaching certification.

Many of EPISD’s administrative-level positions require employees to hold a master’s degree, and some require specialized certifications in management, special education or dual-language, according to the district’s website.

To prepare for the initiative, Chief Academic Officer Al Garcia said administrators, including himself, went through a training program on the ins and outs of being a substitute.

“Because not everybody that’s subbing was a classroom teacher before, as long as they’re certified personnel. But we had the opportunity to get that onboarding and sort of given us lifelines if the class is getting out of control,” said Garcia, a bilingual and special education certified administrator.

Garcia substituted a small special education class at Guillen Middle School. He said administrators in the program do not get to pick what type of class they would fill in, and are placed based on their certifications and other credentials.

Employees taking part in the initiative said they were told at the start of the semester which days and campuses they would serve as substitutes.

Veronica Reyes, El Paso Independent School District assistant superintendent of specialized learning services, works with students in a dual-credit government class at Silva Magnet High School. Reyes is among 255 central office administrators participating in a new district initiative to help cover teacher absences. (Luis Torres / El Paso Matters)

Reyes said she got lesson plans with instructions guiding her on how to teach the classes she substituted and the work students needed to do.

“They provided me kind of a scope and sequence of it, but you know, I did build some activities for them,” Reyes said.

Bates said most central office employees are on board with taking on new substitute duties on top of their regular workload after others were laid off.

“I think the stressful part was we had to let teammates go. The people who are having to sub right now didn’t get let go,” Bates said. “That may sound heartless, but we’ve got to get back on track, and we’ve got to establish a culture here of serving, no matter what it takes.”