Staff Coverage and Substitutes

Overview

Gibbon supports two distinct coverage modes, which determine how substitute teachers are managed and assigned when regular staff members are absent. These can be configured in User Admin > Staff Settings under the Coverage Mode option.

Coverage ensures that when a teacher is marked absent, another user can be assigned to take over their classes for the affected dates.

Note

The coverage system assumes a school will use either Internal or External coverage, and that this setting generally will not change once the system is running. If your school uses a mix of coverage, it's best to use External coverage mode and then add internal staff manually as substitutes.

Internal Coverage Mode

Internal coverage is used when teachers cover each other’s classes. In this mode, all active staff members with a staff type of Teaching can be assigned as substitutes, and their priority is determined through the People > Staff > Manage Staff > Edit Staff interface.

Each staff profile contains a Coverage Priority field and an Exclude from Staff Coverage toggle.

• Coverage Priority: A higher number indicates higher priority. Staff with priority 9 will appear first in the list when assigning internal coverage.
• Exclude from Staff Coverage: If enabled, the staff member will not appear in internal substitute lists.

This setting is ideal for schools where teachers share coverage responsibilities within the faculty.

External Coverage Mode

External coverage allows schools to assign substitute teachers who are not part of the regular teaching staff. These users may include parents, alumni, or part-time substitute teachers who do not have staff status in Gibbon.

External substitutes are managed under People > Staff > Manage Substitutes.

In this interface, you can:

• Add existing user accounts as external substitutes
• Set each substitute’s Priority (a higher number represents higher priority)
• Remove or edit substitute availability

Only users listed in this section will appear as options when assigning substitutes under external coverage mode.

How Coverage Priority Works

The coverage priority value determines the order in which substitutes appear when assigning cover:

• Internal coverage: Uses the priority defined in Manage Staff > Edit Staff.
• External coverage: Uses the priority defined in Manage Substitutes.
• Each mode is independent — changing one does not affect the other.

If a user is listed as both a staff member and a substitute, their priority in Manage Staff will only apply when the system is in internal coverage mode. Their priority in Manage Substitutes applies only when external coverage mode is active.

Common Scenarios and Tips

• If your school uses only internal staff for coverage, leave coverage mode set to Internal and manage all settings from the Manage Staff page.
• If you rely on non-staff substitutes, enable External coverage mode and maintain your substitute pool through Manage Substitutes.
• Coverage lists are automatically ordered by priority (highest to lowest). Users excluded from staff coverage or without an assigned role will not appear.

Note

Coverage settings and absence management are found in People > Staff > Manage Staff Absences. Substitute availability and priority do not automatically update when switching coverage modes — verify your settings after changes.

See Also

• Staff Absences