Indian Prairie School District 204 Board President Laurie Donahue is now among the hundreds of substitute teachers available to fill in when needed.
The school board this week voted 6-0 to allow Donahue to earn up to $1,000 in substitute teaching work. Donahue abstained from the vote.
School board members said the request meets the district’s substitute teaching policy and does not violate the district’s conflict of interest policy for school board members.
Donahue said it was an idea she had discussed with school board members, Superintendent Adrian Talley and lawyers to see if it was feasible. They supported her request.
“For the last I don’t how many years — and especially this past year — I have heard repeated comments about the need for school bus drivers and substitute teachers,” Donahue said. “We need them every day in our district and I want to make sure our students are here every day.”
The resolution allows for $1,000 of substitute teaching work, or 10 school days, district spokeswoman Lisa Barry said. Additional board approval would be needed if she wanted to work beyond that.
“I wanted to compliment you as well and I support the role model aspect of this,” board member Justin Karubas told Donahue. “I don’t even think it is legally necessary to put this on the agenda for you to fill this role. I commend you for the full disclosure of what’s going on and trying to inspire others.”
Substitute teachers require at least a bachelor’s degree. Donahue, a retired senior director in the telecom industry, received a bachelor’s degree in computer engineering from the University of Michigan and an MBA from Benedictine University, according to her board biographical information.
Indian Prairie has just under 600 substitute teachers. Barry said because they have about 2,000 teachers, ideally they would like their substitute pool to be closer to 1,000.
Donahue said she is going into the system without any substitute teaching experience, and she hopes it will motivate others to do the same if they have bachelor’s degrees.
“I am doing this to help out and hopefully it’ll inspire other people to fill out the paperwork to become a substitute in the district because we need your help,” she said.
Donahue could begin substitute teaching next week and does not know how many days per week she will substitute for, she said.
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