While walking around the halls of North Harford, student may begin to notice that there are more missing teachers than usual. There are three teachers out due to maternity/ paternity leave and they all left behind a long term sub to fill their position.

With Mr. Kevin Michel in for Mrs. Jenn Fisher-Smith, Mr. Andrew League in for Mrs. Jenny Beigel, and Ms. Biyi Pong in for Mr. Timothy Pistel, there are three long-term substitutes in the mathematics department. But instead of being in for only one day, these teachers will be here for the next couple months. And being a long term substitute teacher is much different than being a substitute for only a day.

“This is much more difficult,” claimed Michel. “She [Fisher-Smith] left notes for me, but at the end of the day I have to make sure the students keep up.”

Unlike League and Michel, Pong is new to the area and school. This is her first time to Harford County, coming from Wilmington, Delaware.

“Getting to know how the school system worked has been difficult, but I do get a lot of help from the math department,” said Pong.

“While being a long term substitute, there’s additional class information and Edline updates that are required,” says League.

Also, these teachers have to learn the new material themselves in order to teach it to multiple classes a day.

“Staying one day ahead of the students is challenging. I’ve learned all of these subjects, but it’s different teaching it,” claims Michel.

“I give long- term subs a lot of credit because they have to teach a class where they sometimes don’t already know the curriculum,” says sophomore Daniel Fairburn.”But they put a lot of hard work and determination in helping the class learn the material and improving our education.”

While there are challenges to being a long term substitute, it doesn’t mean there aren’t upsides to it. Both League and Michel agree that being in the classroom for a longer period of time helps them get to know the students better.

“The students are great at working with me, and I have a great opportunity to work with them in problem solving,” added Michel.

“Even though we are are only here for a limited time, the students really do begin to look at you as their teacher,” said Pong.