Mediocre Pay, No Benefits for Some, Program Favoritism, and Lack of Clarity on Contracts
Pros
1. Extremely flexible booking 2. Booking agents are very considerate and helpful 3. The company bases your bookings on your home location to minimize commute times for the most part (there are some outliers if there isn't much work in a day).
Cons
1. The pay is okay compared to what support staff and paraprofessionals at the schools make (many of these people make close to minimum wage), but without credentialing, jobs never top $25 an hour and many are $20 to $22 an hour. This is unacceptable, especially in light of the fact that Scoot charges schools premiums for their services, so you are essentially making the company a bunch of money and not seeing enough of it back. 2. The most frustrating part of the job is that people in the credentialing program for Scoot are prioritized for benefits (healthcare and retirement) and are more readily helped with substitute credentialing before receiving teaching credentials that are paid for by the company. The company says it is helping "solve the crisis of a lack of teachers in America," through its credentialing program, but if you enter the credentialing program, you lose a lot of the flexibility that people want with this field because you have to work a certain number of hours to stay in. Also ,it is especially sad, especially considering many subs still work closer to full time (over 30 hours), and receive no benefits. It is true that many people go into subbing for the flexibility and don't necessarily want to become full-time teachers, but anyone working over 30 hours a week should receive benefits. 3. The company is sometimes vague, especially starting in 2022, about booking information. For instance, it is sometimes unclear what my role at schools would be and I would end up taking jobs that I wouldn't have with more information. For instance, they will send emails saying you're teaching 6th grade, but not give specifics about what role (Lead Teacher, Teaching Assistant, Office Support, Campus Monitor, Behavioral Interventionist, etc.). When you get there, the school will tell you and may be different than what you expected. This is not an issue if they call you because they have to state what roles will be expected of you on the contract, however via virtual communication starting in 2022 this became increasingly vague and thus frustrating.
