1 in 4 U.S. teachers are chronically absent, missing more than 10 days of school
Source: Washington Post
More than 1 in 4 of the nation’s full-time teachers are considered chronically absent from school, according to federal data, missing the equivalent of more than two weeks of classes each academic year in what some districts say has become an educational crisis.
The U.S. Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights estimated this summer that 27 percent of the nation’s teachers are out of school for more than 10 days of regular classes — some missing far more than 10 days — based on self-reported numbers from the nation’s school districts. But some school systems, especially those in poor, rural areas and in some major cities, saw chronic absenteeism among teachers rise above 75 percent in 2014, the last year for which data is available.
In the Alamance-Burlington School District, located between Greensboro and Chapel Hill, N.C., 80 percent of its 1,500 teachers missed more than 10 days of school in the 2013-2014 school year. Cleveland reported that about 84 percent of its 2,700 teachers had excessive absences. Nevada’s Clark County School District, which includes Las Vegas, reported that more than half of its 17,000 teachers were chronically absent — missing a total of at least 85,000 work days, or the equivalent number of hours that nearly 500 teachers would work during an entire 180-day school year.
While much attention focuses on the 6 million students who miss more than 15 days of school each year, making them much more likely to see low achievement and increasing the chances of not making it to graduation, teacher absences could be having a similarly negative effect on scholastic success. Superintendents and education policymakers say students need consistency in the classroom and high-quality instruction, noting that a parade of substitutes can seriously set back academic progress.
Read more: Link to source
Given how poorly we pay teachers in this country, is it any wonder??
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Ellen Forradalom
(16,160 posts)I am sure illness and family issues take their toll.
cstanleytech
(26,347 posts)retailers where a schedule can fluctuate wildly from week to week where one week you might work mornings and then suddenly they put you on closing shift or the even fun one of having you close at 11 pm and then open at 5 am.
duffyduff
(3,251 posts)Don't hand me the nonsense retail is harder.
If you have never taught, you have no idea at all what hard work is.
It isn't just the 8-3 instruction time. There are mountains of prep time that are NOT compensated.
cstanleytech
(26,347 posts)store and is constantly on the move all day lifting heavy boxes of things like potatoes and other produce.
Now his wife has it a bit easier as she works as a cake decorator for walmart though shes on her feet all day like he is.
adigal
(7,581 posts)I just talked to a teacher today - she's been teaching Science for 25 years. A parent and Guidance Counselor blindsided her the other day, demanding she give more than one night for a 30 minute lab write-up because "they have other homework." In high school. Other parents talk openly about her on Facebook, for all the world to see, because she teaches a difficult subject and they say lower grades are because "she's terrible." And as teachers, we have no recourse about anyone saying anything they want about us, on Facebook or elsewhere. Add in spineless administration who should call these parents and explain the concept of libel to them, and we feel under attack from every direction.
That's more stressful than retail. I know. I've done both.
cstanleytech
(26,347 posts)like my brother in retail have to deal with.
As for the boss and stuff, almost all of us get that kinda shit to deal with at work with our bosses.
adigal
(7,581 posts)about how terrible you are?
cstanleytech
(26,347 posts)people are now unable to post here anymore.
Not because I reported them but because they kept on with other people and ended up getting themselves banned.
LanternWaste
(37,748 posts)Retail stocking was the easiest job I've ever had. Being on my feet for eight hours was nothing, and even for a skinny guy like me, lifting heavy crates of electronics was simplistic if done correctly and efficiently.
Maybe your brother could use an in-service in regards to proper methods of lifting, moving, bending at the knees, avoidance of twisting, etc.
bmstee01
(453 posts)I worked in retail while in college. Physically it could be exhausting, but I have never been more tired than when the school day ends. It is complete physical and mental exhaustion. I love what I do, but it has its days.
adigal
(7,581 posts)Of coffee. As soon as I close my door, my students will knock. Add mountains of paperwork because I teach English and NY has added APPR paperwork.
I love teaching, but it has more stress than any other job I've had.
awoke_in_2003
(34,582 posts)are little germ factories. Having grandchildren at home, the start of school season means I am going to be getting sick a bit.
mike_c
(36,281 posts)Who could have ever predicted the working conditions would lead to chronic absenteeism? 
Sen. Walter Sobchak
(8,692 posts)apcalc
(4,465 posts)duffyduff
(3,251 posts)Nay
(12,051 posts)Frustratedlady
(16,254 posts)I have several teachers in my family and between the stress of all that has been added to their load at school, there is also the school-related work at home in the evenings and on weekends to contend with. Every case of the flu, viruses and other contagious situations brings the chance of the teacher using another sick day. The classroom is an incubator.
LanternWaste
(37,748 posts)Oddly absent from the OP though is a relevant portion of the story (a simple yet consistent oversight, I'm sure)...
"point to teachers taking sick leave, maternity leave and personal days to which they are entitled..."
Or, "McGrath then accumulated seven absences since the beginning of September, though he said he was only really sick for one of those days. He quit his job last month, saying he felt he did not have his principal’s support and that he thought the school didn’t have enough support staff to control behavior in the building...."
And, "Though school districts were not supposed to include professional development days in their tallies, some did. And some of the data was just plainly in error: The Onslow County, N.C. school district, for example, was shown to have 99 percent of its teachers chronically absent but said its number is actually 19 percent...."
Eleanors38
(18,318 posts)alcibiades_mystery
(36,437 posts)If you know the OP.
LanternWaste
(37,748 posts)I've inferred a particular strain of narrative from him, however I defer (in public) to a simple and unconscious neglect rather than a biased and conscious observance.
NotHardly
(1,062 posts)I taught for over 20 years in classrooms in college and I can attest to the number of illnesses (flu, colds, strep throat, etc.) I became infected with, every single term, because students attended ill and spread their illness to faculty and other students. It was always like a fire going through a dry forest. I have since retired, limiting my exposure, and have never been healthier.
Buckeye_Democrat
(14,859 posts)... attending family events with lots of young relatives there. I'd wear a face mask to Thanksgiving and Christmas gatherings if it was socially acceptable.
duffyduff
(3,251 posts)unless you teach older students. Their immune system is much better, almost on the level with adults. It happens, but not as bad.
Young kids--forget it. They are lethal.
You NEVER, ever built up immunity no matter how careful you are.
Parents need to keep their kids home when they are sick.
Zing Zing Zingbah
(6,496 posts)I was a teacher for a short time and I got sick so much being a teacher. Other jobs I had I pretty much didn't get sick at all. You are definitely more likely to catch something hanging around a bunch of kids every day.
elmac
(4,642 posts)not a big deal unless the Reich is using this as an excuse to privatize schools. I wonder if private schools were included, may have missed that.
dembotoz
(16,864 posts)Some people just like to label other folks
Hav
(5,969 posts)Even without taking into account being in contact with many people and young kids, having the flu in the summer and in the winter isn't that unusual and can easily result in being sick 1 week each.
To call that being chronically absent sounds absurd.
PersonNumber503602
(1,134 posts)I was thinking it would be like double that number to be labeled chronic.
packman
(16,296 posts)from administrators, students, and parents . Classroom work is a grind and it grinds fine. Amazing that that 10 day figure isn't higher. An average classroom probably has 30+ students, 5 periods a day = 150 students seen in one day. Throw class preps and meetings which generally serve no purpose and students with attitude into the mix and it is a wonder teachers stay in the profession at all.
csziggy
(34,139 posts)Since most teachers I know have to duties a couple of weeks before and after the students are in class.
So WOW - those lazy teachers, insisting on taking ONE day a month - how dare they?!
Hmmm, most full time retail jobs give one day of vacation for every two weeks for starting workers - by the time my husband retired he got 2.5 days for every two weeks he worked and 1 sick day per month added to the 5 sick days every worker got a year.
ONE day off a month? That is NOTHING to worry about. For the people who are getting the children of America ready for their futures (when they are allowed to actually teach) I'd be happy to see them take those days and however many more they need to stay physically and mentally healthy so they can do their jobs to the best of their abilities.
cstanleytech
(26,347 posts)redo the system and work them 4 days out of 7 instead. People need days off on the weekdays to for things like doctors appointments and so forth.
duffyduff
(3,251 posts)When you work around children, especially younger children, you are more likely to get sick than parking your ass in front of a computer all day.
It is extremely difficult work.
School districts are infamous for violating FMLA. I know this firsthand.
YOHABLO
(7,358 posts)
Nac Mac Feegle
(972 posts)3 of my grandparents, both parents, and a sister.
/Rant ON
You know not of what you speak. Anyone that thinks teaching is an easy job is ... sadly delusional.
The educational requirements to do the job are incredible, the hours are interminable, and the risks are unbelievable.
You need 4 to 6 years of college, depending on the state, and there are continuing education requirements that must be kept up with. At your own expense, largely.
All that homework has to be corrected. For each student. Lesson Plans and tests have to be prepared and documented for Administration, beforehand. Additional duties such as Playground and Cafeteria monitoring need to be done. Extracurricular activities such as plays, sports, band, field trips, and fire drills are also thrown in the mix. Not to mention weather disaster and Active Shooter drills. Then there is the Almighty Standardized Test That Must Be Prepared For, lest your District lose funding. Given two to three times a year.
As for sickness, consider this: If a parent can't afford to stay home with a mildly ill child, they are often told to "tough it out" and go to school anyway, exposing everyone they come into contact with, and the ones they come in contact with, and the ones they come in contact with... Meanwhile the teacher is limited to the number of days they have available, so they have to "tough it out" themselves. There is also the risk of assault from the students themselves, or their parents. And the risk of lawsuit from the random parent of Entitled Jennifer who has "blown off" classes for the last half of Senior year, and is "traumatized that she will suffer the humiliation of not graduating with her Class". (It really happened. The administration caved.)
And the pay.... Don't let me get started on the pay. And don't EVER expect to survive telling me "They only work nine months a year."
The lack of respect for such an important job as educating our children is appalling. These are your children. They need to be given knowledge to survive and thrive in the world, and you only want to give them little more than poverty wages? And derided as "unable to make it in the real world"? You do not understand what goes in to the process of education.
IT IS NOT "GLORIFIED BABYSITTING".
This doesn't even get into the realm of contracts, arbitrarily enforced rules from Administration, and the interpersonal complications caused by the aforementioned stresses.
/Rant OFF
Sorry, but not very. An extremely sensitive nerve was touched in a most unkind way.
duffyduff
(3,251 posts)The worst part about teaching is if you have a bad administrator. If that administrator wants you out, he or she, with the full backing of the district, will force you out, virtually guaranteeing you will never work again in public ed.
It is NOT an easy job. Try teaching kindergarten, for example. Clue to the clueless: these days kindergarten is what first grade used to be. When you have upwards of 25 kids and perhaps half of them with behavior problems, you would realize just how hard the job is.
It doesn't get all that much easier in the higher grades.
The reason the job is denigrated is because mostly women do it.
Re sick kids: In the district where I currently work--not as a certified teacher as of now--if a child has a fever, that kid gets sent home right away. Kids are not allowed to hang around and make everybody else sick.
However, adults and other kids still do get ill.
athena
(4,187 posts)Especially with this part:
I couldn't have said it better, and I'm not even a teacher and don't have children.
eilen
(4,950 posts)I've had to use quite a few for Dr. appointments, mammogram etc. I am not a teacher, (but in a teacher's union) and work M-F. You would be surprised at how little is available appointment wise after 4pm M-F.
TexasBushwhacker
(20,234 posts)We could accumulate them. Teachers are paid for the days they work, so if they use up their sick leave, they don't get paid. In 9 years, I knew of one non-pregnant teacher who used up all of his sick leave. He had a bad habit of taking off pay days occassionally, so he burned through his sick days every year.
Then he got hepatitis, and had no sick leave, so that was bad. But most teachers were very conservative with taking their sick days. Female teachers with growing families would plan their pregnancies as much as possible, so they could use their accumulated sick days. We could also give our unused sick days to a sick leave bank if we wanted, so that someone who ran out of sick days had a back up.
Some school districts pay teachers for unused sick days when they retire. But if they don't, use them or lose them. Most teachers can't afford to take too many days off without pay. In any case, if school districts have a problem with teacher absenteeism, I suggest they investigate WHY.
Ishoutandscream2
(6,664 posts)I've been a high school counselor for 20 years. I taught for ten years. Those were the longest twenty years of my life.
joelg
(18 posts)In 11 years teaching in VA I accumulated 72 sick days. Used 2 sick days. When I quit what had become an onerous occupation I found out something I should have looked into before. I received 25% of my daily pay for those days and was very close to the $5K limit. So if I had known...I would have taken many more days!
Ms. Toad
(34,124 posts)rather than days set aside for a specific need (personal or family illness, or medical care).
I taught for 11 years, took a month off when I was hospitalized, and still left teaching with around 100 days of accumulated sick leave. I don't begrudge the school district a penny of the sick leave they saved when I left them on the table.
But, around the same time I was hospitalized for a month, with plenty of accumulated leave to cover it, the teacher's union was trying to get a scheme approved that would have permitted teachers wtih excess days to contribute to a pool that could be drawn down by teachers who were ill and did not have sufficient leave.
Since I had watched many of my peers religiously be sick for 1.25 days a month, I was not a fan of rescuing them from the consequences of treating sick leave as vacation days. (That's not to say that there were not teachers I would have gladly helped out - teachers who had catastrophic illnesses too early in their career to have accumulated enough leave to cover it, for example. But the scheme being drafted would not have permitted me to pick and choose by whom my hours could have been used.)
Zing Zing Zingbah
(6,496 posts)I know teachers are required to attend professional development classes that sometimes cause them away from school too.
BigDemVoter
(4,158 posts)No surprise.
Rex
(65,616 posts)Teachers have a hard time with so many people shitting on their profession.
whistler162
(11,155 posts)Last edited Thu Oct 27, 2016, 12:45 PM - Edit history (1)
Quantess
(27,630 posts)Not many...
nitpicker
(7,153 posts)(snip)
School district administrators do not know what exactly is causing excessive teacher absenteeism. Some point to teachers taking sick leave, maternity leave and personal days to which they are entitled, and others attribute part of the problem to school climate. When teachers don’t feel motivated to go to school and teach, some of them just don’t show up.
(snip)
Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, said the federal data doesn’t paint a fair, complete or accurate picture because it only reports when teachers are out of their classrooms, not why they are out, such as for illnesses or family deaths. She also said teachers face unusual workplace stress, and that women, who make up a majority of teachers, are often primary caregivers for their families and are more likely to miss work because of it.
(snip)
Old Vet
(2,001 posts)Half of my family is currently or retired teachers, From elementary to college positions. They are dedicated people with a very high stressful job. Period.........
bmstee01
(453 posts)I use about 1 sick or personal day a year. Missing work is twice as much work as just going when you don't feel well. I will say I have never missed for being sick. I have used them for a day off from the noise. Now I will say I end up using the day off to catch up on grading, working on my program review, etc. I would say on average I work 12 hours a day. My friends that work for companies go into work at about 9 or 10, they take a 2 hour lunch, and leave at 5. I show up at 8:00 get 30 minutes for lunch and leave at 5:00.
As far as the point of this post about teachers missing several days. I can't say that I've observed teachers missing THAT MANY days. I will say my colleagues miss more than me. However, all of my colleagues are women and mothers. I frequently hear them say that when their kids get sick they have to stay home bc their husbands can't/won't. Even in my relationship my partner delegates extra real life tasks to me and says, well just take care of it while the kids are working.... Rigggghhht! I take my eyes off the kids and there's a fight, things are getting broken... And I'm in a good school.
Response to philosslayer (Original post)
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