Posted on 02/04/2006 8:54:24 PM PST by george76
$10 million spent annually by district for classroom subs...
Driven by parental concerns about teacher absenteeism, the Chicago Public Schools for the first time will start scrutinizing schools with high numbers of teachers taking sick days.
On any given school day in Chicago, an average of 1,500 teachers, about 6 percent of the teaching staff, call in sick or take a personal day, according to a Tribune analysis of teacher payroll records.
The absentee rate is highest on Fridays, when an average of 1,800 teachers don't show...
For each of the last six school years, Chicago teachers missed an average of 12 unscheduled days in their 39-week work year. Their current contract calls for 10 sick days and three personal days.
By comparison, salaried employees nationwide take an average of five sick and personal days during their 50-week work year...
Last school year, the district tapped 280,000 substitutes, with the peak coming in February, when demand for substitutes topped 47,000--or about 2,350 each day.
The demand for subs in the 2005-06 school year is even higher, up about 27 percent for the first five months of this school year compared with the same period the year before...
(Excerpt) Read more at chicagotribune.com ...
LOL! Maybe they'll appoint a commission. The Democrats will be up in arms if anything serious is done. In the end NOTHING will be done except, perhaps, a symbolic handful of scapegoats made into public pariahs with the help of the liberal press.
They're not missing; they all moved to New Orleans and became cops...
"A national model for urban education."
However, it seems that the teachers have a problem getting to class...
Driven by parental concerns about teacher absenteeism...
The teacher union does not a problem with teacher no-shows...
nor does the union seem to care if the students learn anything.
Teacher unions are not concerned about education and never have been.
I was out sick 5 days last month and it's only Feb. People get sick and need time off for various reasons.
"The absentee rate is highest on Fridays, when an average of 1,800 teachers don't show..."
If their contract calls for one day off for every three weeks, why are they surprised when the teachers take them? Sure, that is an average and there will be some abusers identified. But what did they expect?
I teach in a large urban area.
I take one day a month off, every month no exceptions.
No one asks why or says anything else to me.
Why anyone would expect huge bureaucracies to serve customers is beyond me.
I have ETO days. It really irritates me when I have to use them when sick. If I have a choice I take off on Mondays or Fridays or before and after holidays. I don't get the no school days that teachers get though.
First, this issue was raised by the parents...not the teachers, not the administration, not the union...
Some of the parents apparently care about the quality of teaching when so many substitutes are trying to cover for so many teachers being absent so often.
Not only it this a huge additional expense on the taxpayers, but a quality issue of the educational experience.
So many parents do not care about their kids education, it is good to see that some, finally, apparently do care.
It seems that the teachers and their unions do not care enough about the students education.
The second point : if one is really sick, then one should stay home or go to the hospital to get well.
That is apparently not the case here. The sick days are just another industrial union benefit...like three months off in the summer, every major and minor holiday off, two weeks paid at Christmas...
The cesspool we call Chicago once again is revealed for what it is, a scam of proportions that boggle the mind.
I hear what you are saying but it is a job. What do parents do at their job when they need to take a day off? Would it not be better to deal with a few slackers and have subs or teachers aides that they feel are A+ to step in to cover when needed.
In Chicago...
the unionized teachers have a hard time getting to school to teach the children, but they find time to protest a Walmart store.
This is why we need school vouchers.
Schools that do not perform should die. Those failing teachers, administrators and union bosses should be fired.
A new school with vouchers run by caring parents could replace the uncaring, failed, union shop.
The new school with teachers, parents, and administrators who might actually care could be in the same buildings.
This is not just a few slackers..."absentee rate is highest on Fridays, when an average of 1,800 teachers don't show..."
A band-aid will not fix this problem.
Major Surgery is indicated.
The best way to pay for good schooling would be low taxes to start. This would leave the parents' money in their own pockets without government management.
The second best is the school vouchers.
The school voucher money should be controlled by the parents. Hopefully the parents do care. There are, unfortunately, many parents who do not care.
Private schooling should include home schooling to everything else. This would give some money to buy school supplies, etc, for the home schooled.
Now, only the rich can easily avoid the trap of government schools with uncaring teachers, administrators, and union bosses.
If not this, then what.
The non-rich should have a better option than what is out there now.
If it's like Texas, you are stupid not to take your sick/personal days. When I retired, I had 30 days of unused sick leave for which I got absolutely NOTHING. What incentive is there in that?
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