Stopped seeing jobs from one school or a whole district on Frontline? What an excluded substitutes list does, and who can tell you if you are on one

Frontline Absence Management lets a district keep lists of substitutes who should not get certain jobs. Frontline's product page says districts can create "district-, school-, and teacher-level preference lists and exclusion lists," which decide who a job is sent to. A teacher's list keeps a sub from seeing that teacher's jobs. A school's list applies to the school, and a district's list applies to the district. That is how a sub can go from seeing a district's jobs every morning to seeing none. Frontline does not decide who goes on these lists, and none of the Frontline pages we read say the substitute is told. The person who can tell you whether you are on one is your district's Frontline administrator, the contact Frontline's own FAQ sends substitutes to. If a staffing agency employs you, ask the agency.

We read every page cited here on October 26, 2026. Frontline's help article "Creating an Excluded Substitutes List" did not load for us that day. So this post quotes four other sources: Frontline's product page, an undated Frontline employee guide, a printed copy of Frontline's substitute FAQ dated December 6, 2024, and an administrator guide published by a staffing agency. Your district's screens may look different. This is not legal advice, and only your district or agency can say what applies to you.

Three kinds of excluded list

Frontline's substitute management page puts it in one sentence, under the question "How will we get the most qualified substitutes in the classroom?": "Create district-, school-, and teacher-level preference lists and exclusion lists to further refine to whom and when the absence is pushed out."

• A teacher's list. Frontline's employee web guide tells teachers: "Another option you may have is to create a list of substitutes that you never want filling your absences." It adds: "When you add someone to your exclude list you are preventing them from seeing absences that you create." The effect is limited to that teacher's own absences. The words "you may have" also leave it to the district whether teachers get the option at all.
• A school's list. Teachers On Call, a staffing agency that is a Kelly Education company, publishes an administrator guide for Frontline Absence Management. It shows an "Excluded Substitutes" tab in a school's settings and says the tab "Displays the list of all substitutes that are currently excluded from your school." A school's list is not tied to one teacher. That fits one school going quiet while others do not.
• A district's list. Frontline's product page names this level, but we found no Frontline page that shows the screen. If every school in one district stops showing you jobs at once, a district-level exclusion is one explanation. A problem with how your account is set up in that district is another. That is the case Frontline's FAQ sends to the district administrator.

The employee guide walks a teacher through adding a name, removing one with "the trash can icon," and saving. None of those steps mentions telling the substitute.

Being taken off one job is a different thing

A sub can also be removed from a single job already booked. The same administrator guide shows how: open the absence, click "Remove Sub," and fill in a short form. In its "Requested By" field, the administrator chooses "who requested that the substitute be removed or if the substitute was a no-show." The guide says "Absence management will record this information."

The form also has a checkbox labeled "Allow substitute to see job after removal." The guide says to "Leave this box unchecked if you don't want this job to show up to the substitute as an available job after they have been removed." If the job is still ahead, the guide says the system "will begin to attempt to fill the job again with qualified and available substitutes."

So a removal leaves a record of who asked for it, in a field on the administrator's screen. Your district is the place to ask what it says. Our post on a booked job that disappears from your Frontline schedule covers what to check that day. Pay for a job that was called off is a separate question, and our post on jobs canceled the morning of goes through it.

Rule out your own settings first

Settings on your own side can hide jobs the same way. Frontline's substitute FAQ answers "Why am I not seeing any jobs?" this way: "First, make sure you do not limit yourself in your 'Schools' preferences. If you still do not see anything, you can contact your district's Administrator to make sure you have the correct setup."

• Your Schools list. The FAQ says you can "define which locations you want to see jobs for and those you want to avoid" in the "Schools" list under Preferences. A school you marked to avoid, perhaps by mistake, stops showing you its jobs. That looks the same as an exclusion. If you cannot change the list, the FAQ says to "check with your district about its school preference policy."
• Non-work days. The FAQ says non-work days mark "when you are not available to work as a sub." Check for a range entered by mistake, or one that runs longer than you meant. You will find them on the calendar on your home page and on the "Non Work Days" tab.
• More than one district. If you sub for several districts under one login, the FAQ says the "District List" section within Preferences is where you "manage your district affiliations." Check that the quiet district is still on it.
• Preferred lists. Being taken off a school's preferred list is not an exclusion, but it can look like one. The administrator guide says a preferred list's "Job Visibility" setting is "the number of days and hours in advance to the start date a substitute on that preferred list can view absences for your school." A sub on the list can see those jobs earlier. A sub off it sees them later, when some may already be taken.

Who can tell you if you are on one

Not Frontline, by its own account. Its FAQ says: "Frontline Education is not a staffing agency. It does not employ substitutes, although it provides tools for districts to use during the hiring and substitute placement processes." It sends substitutes to "your district or staffing agency directly" with "questions about policies and procedures, specific absences, or troubleshooting."

For a district sub, the FAQ names the contact: "your local school district's Frontline Education Administrator. This Admin will be familiar with both account and district policies." It says your organization's contact details are under the "Help Resources" icon in the top right corner of the application.

Questions that have a definite answer:

• Is my account active in this district, and set up for the same kinds of jobs as before?
• Am I on an excluded list for any teacher, any school or the district?
• Was I taken off a preferred list?
• If I was removed from a booked job, who is recorded as asking for the removal?
• Can a substitute ask for an exclusion to be reviewed, and who decides?

Ask by email, so the answer comes back in writing. Frontline does not decide whether a district owes a substitute a reason or a review. District policy decides that. Where substitutes are covered by a union contract, the contract may also cover it. Your district's HR office can tell you which applies.

If an agency places you

If a staffing agency employs you, your questions go to the agency. Frontline's FAQ names the "staffing agency" alongside the district for policy questions. Some agency subs book through Frontline. The administrator guide quoted above is written for "school district administrators partnering with Teachers On Call."

Agencies with their own apps have their own words for the same thing. Swing Education's help center says: "If a school or substitute requests to be unlinked, we strive to share any actionable feedback to support your growth." Ask your agency whether a school has asked not to have you back, and what it said.

What we can't tell you

• We could not read Frontline's current article on excluded lists, because its help center did not load for us on October 26, 2026. The wording here comes from the employee guide, the December 2024 copy of the FAQ and the agency's administrator guide. Your district's screens may differ.
• We found no Frontline page that says in plain words what a substitute sees when a school or a district excludes them. Only the teacher-level guide says it: "preventing them from seeing absences that you create."
• We cannot tell you whether you are on a list, or why. Only your district or agency can.
• A quiet week has other causes, including a week with fewer absences. A week of nothing from one school is a reason to ask, not proof of an exclusion.

Where Sub Hero fits

Sub Hero is independent and not affiliated with Frontline Education. It uses your own Frontline login and sends an alert, by email and push, when a job matching your filters appears. It can only alert you to jobs your login is shown, so an exclusion applies to its alerts as well. It cannot tell you whether you are on a list. It cannot see your non-work days either, so check those in Frontline. It does nothing outside Frontline, so it has no view of an agency's own app.

Learn more: app.getsubhero.com

Plans start at $6.99/month. Works with Frontline Absence Management.