School policy puts teachers in a bind over leave

CAT Tracks Editor's Note:

Amen!

In any profession, there are individuals who abuse sick leave policy, but the vast majority of teachers do not. And, hey, it's not like there's not an existing penalty for abuse. Those who use up their sick leave every year (legitimately or not) have no "cushion" in the event of a major illness for themselves or a family member. Should that personal or family emergency occur without the requisite number of sick leave days to cover their absence, they get "docked", they lose income at a critical point in their lives.

And, by the way, efforts by school boards to "stop the abuse" are counterproductive.

Whatever policy/penalty they come up with will not dissuade the abusers (unless they put some major dollars behind it, which school boards will never do)...

...plus, it alienates/insults the teachers who needed no prodding to do the right thing, may even turn some of them into policy abusers.

The writer of the "Letter to the Editor" hit the nail on the head as to the best deterrent against teacher sick leave abuse, a deterrent that was never engraved in stone, i.e. the contract...

...and that is the detailed lesson plans, the preparations one must make for the time that s/he will be away...

...not to mention the papers/projects s/he will have to grade when s/he returns...

...or the turmoil s/he will face after the sweet innocent children who were denied their thirst for knowledge abused the substitute teacher...

...who now needs their own sick day, their own "mental health" day.

So...

...what's a district to do, to get teachers to come to school every day?

Look, even a recent Nobel Prize winner knew that efforts to solve many problems were futile...

...or as he put it: