Meet Amber Charter Schools

Founded in 2000, Amber Charter Schools is the first Latino-led charter school in New York. Amber Charter Schools serves students in three locations and aims to provide their students with a rigorous and well-rounded education that will set them up for future successes.

The challenge

In the years following COVID-19, Amber Charter Schools faced unfilled teacher vacancies and struggled with securing an adequate pool of qualified substitute teachers.

“When unfilled absences occur, at times we have to divert staff and resources from other classes. When this happens throughout the school year, it affects curriculum, testing, and enrollment – it all compounds on itself. Swing was a solution to that problem for us,” says Avid Maldonado, Amber Charter Schools Human Resources Manager.

Filling teacher absences with Swing

When Amber Charter Schools decided to explore additional solutions to their substitute teacher shortages, they were able to incorporate Swing into their system seamlessly.

With Swing, Amber Charter Schools now have hundreds of pre-vetted substitute teachers at their fingertips, and the school’s administrators and full-time teachers can now spend more time doing what matters most: directly supporting students.

A winning combination

A rapidly growing pool of available substitute teachers and superior customer service has been a winning combination for the network. A Swing partnership not only provides a robust pool of substitute teachers, but also ensures that subs are equipped with clean background checks and fulfill state requirements. Amber Charter Schools now has a 96% fill rate with Swing substitutes.

Emphasizing the financial benefits of a Swing partnership, Maldonado explained, “While operating as a nonprofit, we must cover teacher salaries and various operational expenses for the school. Partnering with Swing ensures that we maximize the value of our resources, making it a partnership we are eager to maintain.”