It’s not like Joe Frodsham has been a stranger to the classroom.

Married to a teacher, father to six well-educated children, a veteran of nearly 17 years on the Medford School Board, Frodsham knows his way around a chalkboard.

But when it comes to mastering a class of his own, the would-be teacher admits even he didn’t understand how challenging it could be.

"Until you’re actually in a classroom with all those little faces looking at you, you don’t know," he said. "It’s a whole different ballgame."

Starting last spring and continuing this fall, Frodsham, 54, has joined the ranks of rookies in the Rogue Valley’s team of substitute teachers.

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Fifteen or 20 times last year, Frodsham found himself in front of classes in Eagle Point and Central Point, teaching one-day subjects ranging from auto shop and social studies to pre-algebra. He says it has been an enlightening exposure to the hands-on realities of education.

"Subbing is the deep trenches," he said.

Becoming a substitute is the first step on the path to a new career for Frodsham, who ran a small group of local photo finishing businesses for 24 years. He closed the stores last year, citing fierce competition from chain retailers.

"Teaching was always an option," says Frodsham, who holds a master’s degree in education curriculum and instruction from Brigham Young University.

He acquired transitional certification from the state last spring, with endorsements to teach middle- and high-school social studies, French and music. Once Frodsham completes mandated exams in his subject areas, he’ll be eligible for a formal credential.

"I’d like to get on full-time," said Frodsham, who’d have to quit his school board post if he got a job with the Medford district.

In the meantime, he plans to stay on the board and substitute in surrounding districts. Frodsham acknowledges that he’s now in a rare position of creating policy in one school district and implementing policies in another.

"It’s been fun because you get to see the concerns from both ends," said Frodsham. "As a teacher you have to deal on the ground with the cards you’re dealt."

If anything, Frodsham said, his time in the classroom has strengthened his commitment to solid board leadership. Even brief stints in other districts showed Frodsham the effects of sound policy, he said.

"You can tell the places that have schoolwide discipline plans and those who don’t," Frodsham observed.

Most substitute teachers have horror stories and Frodsham is no different.

"At one school, I could not get control," he said. "Another teacher told me, ‘Your fourth- and fifth-grade classes are just a mess.’ I almost walked out."

Still, Frodsham believes that hands-on education is in his future.

"The most important factor in a classroom is a dedicated teacher," he said, adding later:

"I’ve had the policy background. Now it’s fun to implement it."

Reach reporter JoNel Aleccia at 776-4465, or e-mail jaleccia@mailtribune.com

System keeps subs a mouse-click away

For years, Susie Galpern would start each school day with a mad scramble for substitute teachers.

"The teacher would call, then the office manager or the principal would pick up those calls and they would call me," recalls Galpern, personnel secretary for the Medford School District.

It was Galpern’s job to round up replacement teachers — before dawn — so they’d be in place by the start of class.

Thanks to an automated system installed by the Medford district this year, finding substitutes now will be as easy as clicking a mouse. Officials paid $22,500 for Sub Finder, a software program marketed by the Pennsylvania-based CRS Inc. and used in nearly 500 school districts nationwide.

It’s a move aimed at saving money and improving efficiency, two goals that Galpern says will be easy to achieve.

"It reduces all the office managers’ time," she said. "It was a full-time job basically for two people last year. It should reduce it to a half-time, hands-on person."

Medford was one of the last Southern Oregon districts to use people, not computers, for "absence management," as it’s known in the industry.

The Southern Oregon Education Service District bought a Sub Finder system four years ago and formed a consortium with four districts: Central Point, Eagle Point, Rogue River and Ashland.

"The districts that are using this are very pleased," said Howard George, business manager for the ESD. "I hear, ‘This is great, don’t get rid of it, keep going.’"

There are about 800 substitutes in the ESD system and more than 200 in the Medford system. Substitutes are certified teachers who typically earn about $140 a day for their efforts.

Part of the enthusiasm for Sub Finder centers on a program that gives teachers and substitutes much more flexibility in arranging and responding to absences.

If teachers know they’re going to be gone — for a conference, say, or a medical reason — they can enter the information via a Web site and set up a sub themselves.

"You can plug in the sub you want," says Janean Nodine, a teacher at White Mountain Middle School in Eagle Point. "I’ve had very good success with it. Almost every time I’ve needed a sub, I’ve gotten who I’ve requested."

Substitute teachers such as newcomer Joe Frodsham said the automated systems allow them to "cherry-pick" good assignments or avoid unwanted duties.

"You can shop it. By 4 p.m. the day before, they post the vacancies," he said.

Longtime Medford sub Clarice Guthrie says she’s looking forward to the new system, but it probably won’t change her routine.

"Usually I am ready by 6 a.m.," said Guthrie, who’s been subbing for 14 years. "I like to leave home by 6:30 a.m. I like to be there by 7 a.m."

Once subs get known, they’re likely to be chosen by the same teachers over and over.

That could lead to a certain amount of wooing of teachers, but Galpern said district rules prevent it.

"We don’t even allow the schmoozing," she said. "They cannot enter the buildings looking for work. They can’t solicit. They can’t go out handing out business cards."

If subs don’t want to rely on a computer’s random dialing, they must prove themselves through performance.

"If they come in with their own little gimmick or their own little hook, they’ll fall into a favored status," Nodine said. "If they come with nothing and the teacher left nothing, it makes for a very long day for the teacher and the kids."

Reach reporter JoNel Aleccia at 776-4465, or e-mail jaleccia@mailtribune.com

Frodsham has problem with ‘socialist’ Ashland

As a new substitute teacher, Joe Frodsham is eager to work in any local school districts — except one.

Frodsham has registered to teach in Central Point, Eagle Point, Phoenix-Talent and Grants Pass. He can’t sub in Medford because he’s a school board member.

But the 17-year board veteran said he won’t apply to teach in the Ashland School District because of what he calls his “conservative views.”

“I can deal with Republicans and I can deal with Democrats, but I’m not sure I can deal with Communists,” Frodsham said.

Asked to elaborate, Frodsham said he meant “socialist,” not “Communist.”

“You know how they call it the Socialist Republic of Ashland?” he said.

His comments elicited speechless surprise from Ashland School Board chairman Amy Amrhein.

“My thought is that it’s unfortunate that Mr. Frodsham feels unwelcome in Ashland,” Amrhein said. “Certainly we welcome all political views here. Political views have no place when we look at hiring either substitutes or teachers.”

Ashland board member Terry Littleton invited Frodsham to visit Ashland schools.

“I think that those kinds of statements add to the divisiveness that unfortunately is becoming an issue in an election year,” she said.

Medford School Board Chairman Mike Moran said Frodsham must have intended the comment in fun.

“I’m quite confident he was using his dark sense of humor,” he said. “We’ve got a great relationship with Ashland.”

Frodsham later said that he was joking.

“I said it for the shock value,” he said. “And it worked.”

“Ashland is a liberal place, but it’s a nice place,” he added.