Substitute teachers tell SFUSD board Red Rover app and pay-date changes are destabilizing

Multiple substitute teachers told the board that the district's substitute-assignment system (Red Rover) is unreliable and harms veteran substitutes who depend on consistent assignments. Dennis Fox, a substitute, said experienced substitutes routinely see openings appear and disappear and now average roughly one day of work per week.

"We spend hours and hours hitting the refresh button on the Red Rover screen looking for work," Fox said during public comment, describing a system that leaves many substitutes unable to cover basic living costs.

United Educators of San Francisco (UESF) vice president for substitutes Natalie urged immediate payroll and process fixes after an announced change moved substitute pay from the fifth to the tenth of the month. "California Education Code requires that they be paid by the fifth of the month," Natalie said. UESF said the timing was communicated to labor representatives later than to other employees and that substitute employees lack adequate notice and access to sick leave.

Several substitutes described app compatibility problems and a "hunger games" effect where push notifications trigger thousands of simultaneous attempts to claim a single job. "Red Rover jobs disappear impossibly fast," one substitute said.

Board members heard the testimony and asked staff for follow-up. Superintendent Hsu acknowledged the issue and directed families and staff to lobby contacts for specific TK concerns; associate superintendent Amy Bair explained credentialing and hiring challenges in early education but also noted work with City College and San Francisco State to build pipelines.

The board asked staff to follow up with the payroll and HR teams and said it would consider staff proposals for how to improve communication, payroll timing and substitute assignment systems.