My employer was a third-party company, not the schools themselves, but they didn't really "manage placement" beyond providing the software platform. If I didn't log in to accept a job, I would not be working.
I should add that the "system" that this replaced was much more humane: you would contact the district to be placed on their substitute list, which school secretaries would consult when they needed a sub. They would personally call you to see if you were available, rather than having to watch the site refresh. Since they only made calls during business hours, you wouldn't have to worry about it on evenings or at ungodly morning hours. You would be paid directly by the school district.
Presumably the software could have worked basically the same way, but of course it didn't.
Interesting problem. Seems like there are lots of better ways to handle it that could be implemented by a different middle man. For example, the middle man could have a que of subs and allocate the gigs by position in the cue. Tons of sorting algorithms available.
The interesting part is that this all benefits the substitutes, not the school, so why would the school pick the more humane competitor.
I agree. Even just doing exactly what the school secretaries used to do (call out instead of requiring us to poll, and only during certain hours) would be better. But you're right that the incentives are awful. This software worked and changing it would presumably cost money (developer time, potential for introducing new revenue-impacting bugs, etc.). Also, the people making the decisions are of course not using their own money: if something is more expensive but saves some district employee 40 hours a year doing background checks, managing the sub list, etc., then they will choose to pay the service. Presumably my employer also had slick salespeople wooing these decision makers with dinners out, football tickets and the like.
I should add that the "system" that this replaced was much more humane: you would contact the district to be placed on their substitute list, which school secretaries would consult when they needed a sub. They would personally call you to see if you were available, rather than having to watch the site refresh. Since they only made calls during business hours, you wouldn't have to worry about it on evenings or at ungodly morning hours. You would be paid directly by the school district.
Presumably the software could have worked basically the same way, but of course it didn't.