Oregon Substitute Teacher Appreciation Day
New date in May each year, TBA
Oregon Substitute Teacher Association is making a slight, yet significant change! This arm of our organization will now be known as Oregon Substitute Teacher of the Year with the acronym OSTY, designating a difference from National Substitute Teacher Day which is in November. If someone wants to celebrate us twice, who is to complain?
OSTA has selected the Wednesday of National Teacher Appreciation Week as Oregon Substitute Teacher Appreciation Day (This makes it easier for schools and the state to include us because they are already in the mode.). This year we will introduce the OSTY on May 7, 2025 on the floor of the Senate and the floor of the House. Additionally, this special person will be recognized at a local school board meeting to cheers from family and friends, and then taken out to dinner, OSTA’s treat.
Substitute Teacher Appreciation Day is proclaimed by the Governor—a day when schools are encouraged to do something special for those faithful guest teachers, who provide approximately one year of every student’s education. Thank you for joining Oregon’s Governor in saying thanks to these on-call professionals during National Teacher Appreciation Week, especially during their special day in May!
Here are some quick and easy ideas, but let creativity be your guide!
Candy by the substitute check-in, with a small sign: “You are our Life-Saver!” or “You Deserve a (Peppermint) Patty on the Back!” or just “Thank You for Being our Substitute Teacher.”
Latte Gift Certificates, boutonnieres.
A poster in the front lobby welcoming substitutes.
Hand-written notes by leadership students, hand-delivered to classrooms or sent in the mail.
An after-school tea inviting substitutes who usually work in your building, but who may not have been called to your building that day.
Including substitute teachers in Teacher Appreciation Week activities.
Including Oregon Substitute Teacher Day in your morning announcements.
Announcing names of substitute teachers and for whom they are substituting. Some schools do this on a daily basis, and it is helpful to the teaching teams as well as the students.