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Yesterday, my fellow Indy K12 writer David McGuire Wrote, “Teacher Attendance Matters.”  As a school principal, I know he is under pressure to ensure his students receive the best education.  The heart of his piece was to emphasize how teacher absences can bring challenges to schools including student achievement.  Teaching is one of the professions where bosses constantly question why teachers are using personal days or sick days. If you don’t want teachers to use these days, then why even bother giving them?  Realistically, everything cannot be done over a school break, so let’s throw that argument away.

[bctt tweet=” If you don’t want teachers to use these days, then why even bother giving them?” username=””]

My identical twin sons were born ten weeks early.  I was on bed rest for 16 weeks before they were born early, eight weeks at home, and eight weeks in the hospital.  Between my medical bills, and my sons’ medical bills we had almost $500,000 in bills. Yes, the insurance covered a significant portion, but we still had a lot left to pay.  I had no choice but to return back to work, and the reception was chilly at best.

Because my sons were born early, they had numerous appointments to monitor their health and development.  They also had physical therapy. I was frequently absent for their appointments. To ensure I didn’t run out of days, I came to work when I was sick.  Some of my colleagues were not understanding, and then I received a chart in my mailbox to inform me that I had missed 25% of my one of my English classes.  This was followed up with an email demanding that I submit weekly lesson plans. At my school, no one turned in lesson plans weekly. At the end of the semester, we uploaded plans online.  I refused to agree to the request.

My father was a union rep at his job for years during my childhood.  I knew what my rights were. I scheduled a meeting with the administration and my union where I was able to prove why I was absent, and I was not forced to submit lesson plans weekly.  My absences were not questioned moving forward. What angered me the most was all the extra effort I put in to ensure my students were doing well. We were using My Big Campus at the time, and I would message students when I was at appointments with my sons to answer questions and to give feedback.  I would write comments to them on Google Docs. Even though I did miss many classes, I still had better data than other teachers who had 100% or nearly 100% attendance…I’m still trying to figure that one out myself.

That whole situation made me feel not valued. I already had colleagues making comments, and then the administration got on my back.  I was stressed about my children’s progress and them being healthy. I was stressed about getting these medical bills paid. My students will tell you, for a year, I ate oatmeal every day for lunch as a cost-cutting measure to pay off those bills, which took three years to pay. The last thing I needed was my professionalism questioned.  I never took off unless I had to take off. I was even told that my husband should do his part. He was; he took our boys to 50% of their appointments so I wouldn’t miss even more work. My husband was never harassed by colleagues or sent emails about his absences. He was treated like a professional.

Even now, I take off work.  I use all of my personal days each year.  I’m a teacher, but I also want to be an involved parent.  I am going to attend at least one field trip or school function during the school day each year.  Both of my children are in counseling, so I take off of work for that. I also take two mental health days a year.  I know my rights. I know I don’t have to produce a note unless I am absent more than two days in a row, and you don’t have to tell everyone your business.  Just last week a colleague asked, “Shawnta, where were you?” I smiled and replied, “Not here.”

[bctt tweet=”As I know from personal experience, teacher absences do not always equal student failure.” username=””]

Life happens; people will be absent regardless of the profession. As I know from personal experience, teacher absences do not always equal student failure.  I have given over 100% at every school I have been employed. Honestly, the best action teachers can take is taking a mental health day. If teachers are frequently calling in sick, then maybe the administrator needs to assess his or her role in the situation and other problems at the school to determine why some of the teachers in the school get what I call the Monday malady or the Friday flu. I’ll tell any administrator this, “Come at me about my absences at your own risk.” I know my value and how I’m an asset to any school where I work.  When we demean teachers, who are professionals, we push the good ones out the door. I assert more teachers need to stand their ground and not let other colleagues or administrators bully them about why they are absent.

Educator Barnes is a middle school dean and adjunct college professor. Previously, she served as...

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8 Comments

  1. Thank you for your article. I think teachers need to realize the value of their sick days. Schools need to see the value of their sick days. I am leaving a school behind where I accumulated 60+ sick days. I will only get reimbursed for 30 of those days. There needs to be a change in education and until there is a change I believe the numbers of those going into education will continue to decline.

  2. I am in total agreement. I am a professional and put in almost more work in sub lesson plans than my regular plans. I make myself available to students when I am out of class. I am very lucky right now that I am working in a school where I am not questioned about absences. All my absences are legitimate as they are relating to my children’s health, school functions or my health. I feel torn that I can’t be at all my children’s functions but I do try to make at least 2 each. I have never taken a full day to go on a field trip with them though. But now I might after reading your article. On the flipside, there are teachers who seem to abuse the system, who seem to be absent every other Friday or Monday and leave sub plans that are lacking to say the least. I have had to cover such teachers’ classes. 🙁

  3. If we were given adequate time to plan, collaborate and evaluate we probably wouldn’t be using sick/personal days to accomplish these things. There is absolutely no way to accomplish all of this in the meager planning time we are granted. The amount of stress experienced by teachers is enormous, which seems to increase more each year. In Oregon, STUDENTS have been granted 5 mental health days a year. Teachers? NONE.

  4. I really appreciate this article. I teach sped early childhood and am teaching ABA. Most of my students are on the ASD spectrum and all have IEP’s. I should have multiple teacher aides to help me. Our school district does not pay our T/As enough and all but one out of the eight classrooms has quit before the holidays this year. I am running my classroom alone with zero support from teacher aides or administration. There is also a sub shortage district wide and we are in a crisis.

    This year our school district is piloting a program that pays an additional $200 quarterly if the teachers don’t take off any sick or compensatory days. This would include signing up for a workshop or training, or using a personal day for bereavement etc. I don’t think I can in good conscience even take a mental health day because there would be no literally no one to sub in my classroom. I feel like I need to change districts to save my sanity and also work for a district that will ensure IEP compliance and uphold state standards. I need to find a place I won’t be penalized financially For taking one lousy sick day. This year with this administration will be the reason I leave my tenure and go where I will be supported.

  5. Thank you for such a great article. Many people do not understand what it’s like for elementary teachers to take their appropriated time off.

  6. I am a teacher, and this is so true.

    However, let’s take the focus off of the teaching profession, and simply describe any profession that allows sick and/or personal days. If they are allowed, there should be no reason for employers/colleagues to be nosy. Once the person uses up their allotted days, then the employer has the right to step in, cause it begins to disrupt the flow of the organization. But if nothing is done about the individuals who abuse the system, divisiveness sets in and it’s all just one big mess.

    Dont punish those who follow the rules. Dont ignore those who break the rules. And when uncontrollable events come up that will require us to miss more days, be upfront with your employer BEFORE it needs to happen (when possible). Employers cannot read our minds and don’t know everything going on in our lives.

  7. I came to education later in life. At 50 I went back to school to become a school librarian. I have worked in Higher Ed., Corporate, and K-12. Several years ago we had a principal that wanted a doctor note for every sick day. Excuse me?! My car was the first in the parking lot every morning and often the last to leave. It is none of your damn business what kind of medical appointment I have. He only lasted a year but in the process we had a mass exodus of good teachers. The bottom line is that we are a female dominated work force. We have kids and/or parents that need caretaking. We typically have more medical appointments than our male counterparts. The system needs to build in the support when teachers are out.

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