Around the halls of Tucson High and in classes — every subject from calculus to P.E. — Jerry Schuster’s former students remember one main thing: “You can call me Jerry after you graduate,” they recall.
Schuster, a substitute teacher in the Tucson Unified School District for 25 years, is one of nearly 900 subs within Southern Arizona’s largest school district. (He goes by Mr. Schuster until students earn their diplomas.) Now he and other subs say they should be included in the 4% employee raises proposed in TUSD’s Prop. 414 override on the November ballot.
“The subs are a huge value to the district,” said TUSD Governing Board President Jennifer Eckstrom. “Long-term subs fill positions we need filled. They are important to the district and to our kids.”…