Tuesday Slice: Sub plans, part one

There should be another box to check on jury summons, one especially for educators that says "Fulfilling the summons would require me to write sub plans.  Therefore, I cannot attend."

I am not against fulfilling my civic duty.  Okay, I am against it a little due to the fact that it requires me to drive downtown and deal with downtown traffic, something I've managed to avoid in almost every job I've held.

And I am a lot against it due to sub plans.  It took me the better part of three hours to write the plans for a day-and-a-half of absence--and that's with a library assistant for the sub to rely on.  There are two kindergarten, three first grade, five second grade, six third grade, six fourth grade, and one fifth grade class coming to the library during that time.  Half have a lesson or read-aloud.  The lessons require technology and knowledge of genres.  The read-aloud is supposed to prompt discussion about the inclusivity of schools and the ethics of kindness.  There will be lots and lots of books coming and going through our circulation desk.

My assistant will do most of the heavy lifting, and she'll be great.  But I'm sad she's put in this position.  Teaching is one of the few professions, if not the only, I can think of that requires sub plans.  Do lawyers submit sub plans?  Doctors (other than their usual orders)?  Plumbers?  Hairdressers?  Army generals?  I'm pretty sure my quality control inspector husband didn't have to submit sub plans when he had jury duty, or sick leave, or just took a day off for the heckuvit.

Now that the sub plans are done, I can show up for jury duty with a slightly better attitude.

Emphasis on slightly.