[ctguy87]

Originally Posted by NewJeffCT

I can vouch for teachers putting in a ton of work at home each night - with NCLB (No Child Left Behind), SBAC and other "educational" initiatives, there is a huge amount of paperwork to fill out to document every aspect of the school day and for each student. A lot of teachers also get to school early in the morning as well. (At my daughter's middle school open house recently, every teacher of hers but one said they were at school every morning by 7am in case a student needed extra help. The one teacher who wasn't in early said she was there after school every day for at least an hour.)

This, and keep in mind teachers work in an atmosphere ripe with germs. Teachers I know get colds/bugs way more often than an office worker. If I'm sick, I can work from home and spare my co-workers. Too often kids get sent to school when they are contagious.

I have no problem with this amount of sick days. Sometimes they are not used as mental health days, but grading days just to catch up on work. Not exactly a day off.

[smackfu]

Originally Posted by groove

Given the highly-female nature of the school labor force, I would suspect that many of these days are banked/accumulated and then used for extended things like maternity leave. Before assuming it's a way to game the retirement, I'd be curious to know exactly how many can be carried forward year after year. There usually is a cap to minimize people accruing months and months of leave.

Yep. A lot of people have maxed out sick days banked up, to the point where it's fairly common to allow people to donate them to someone with a serious illness who runsout.

[Raider111]

Originally Posted by AMSS

This is a load of crap. While a sub may not teach content, they usually have detailed plans to follow. Most of my teacher friends actually go to work deathly ill rather than deal with the preparation and aftermath of a sick day.

count my other half as one of them as well.

[basehead617]

My mother was a teacher in Region 15. She and all her teacher friends went in way earlier than school started and worked tirelessly all evening doing plans and grading papers. This isn't a university where you have TAs doing everything.

Sure there are teachers who are terrible, but I guarantee my mom and her circle worked more hours total than someone with a year-round job.

Saying they shouldn't get vacation days is a but nuts, IMO.

To use an example similar to yours, some people who aren't teachers also never take sick days - because they think it make them look better to their managers. There's been many articles written about that in recent years. That doesn't mean it's admirable.

[North Beach Person]

Originally Posted by Mike 75

Seems excessive. 5 to 10 is more appropriate. Especially if they carry over each year. Just seems like a way to game the system come retirement time.

Recovery from a prostate biopsy, recommended, is 3 to 5 days. Much of that is due to the requirement to urinate when needed, a luxury teachers often do not have.

[Raider111]

Another factor is pregnancy. Not sure about other districts but ours does not provide paid maternity, where they can then utilize those sick days

[JayCT]

Originally Posted by NewJeffCT

I can vouch for teachers putting in a ton of work at home each night - with NCLB (No Child Left Behind), SBAC and other "educational" initiatives, there is a huge amount of paperwork to fill out to document every aspect of the school day and for each student. A lot of teachers also get to school early in the morning as well. (At my daughter's middle school open house recently, every teacher of hers but one said they were at school every morning by 7am in case a student needed extra help. The one teacher who wasn't in early said she was there after school every day for at least an hour.)

This is what people forget. A lot of a teachers time is spent outside the classroom so even though they get holidays, vacations and summers off, they usually end up working as many hours yearly as a regular worker. Jay

[JGBigGreen]

My wife teaches and, even though she gets summers off, she puts in as many hours- if not more- per year as I do for a lot less money. Teachers do what, in today's society seems to be a largely thankless job, they do because they (99.9% of them IMHO) love their work and the kids they are educating, not for summers off, not because it is easy- it isn't!- and not because they want to take mental health days to goof off. Like others have said, my wife would rather go to work being deathly ill than deal with the hassle of putting together sub plans. And, as also mentioned, she gets sick more often than you would expect because she works in an elementary school which can be a breeding ground for germs and illness.

Originally Posted by JayCT

This is what people forget. A lot of a teachers time is spent outside the classroom so even though they get holidays, vacations and summers off, they usually end up working as many hours yearly as a regular worker. Jay

[7 Wishes]

Originally Posted by AMSS

I don't think that can happen. I have seen banked sicked days be turned over from one teacher to another in tragic circumstances. I know my nephew's teacher was in a horrific accident and the teachers in the building donated sick days.



This is a load of crap. While a sub may not teach content, they usually have detailed plans to follow. Most of my teacher friends actually go to work deathly ill rather than deal with the preparation and aftermath of a sick day.

Actually from a lot of experience I can tell you it is not "crap", in elementary school they are often "detailed" as you say and involve having to teach but in middle or high school (where it's hard to get a sub who could actually do the subject even for a day) the "detailed plans" are usually what I described. Granted, I do not know if it is different in "elite" districts which often do not have a shortage of subs, even for low pay (a lot of aspiring teachers will try to sub in those districts, and you get a lot of retired teachers and "stay at home moms" who sub in live in said district, know people and get to sub there as a flexible way to make some extra money, as most of my experience with this is in cities and larger districts.

However, I can also say from experience that what you said about banked sick days and others have said about teacher workloads outside the classroom (especially in the NCLB/SBAC age) is true too. Also I never said teachers are quick to call in sick so I'm not sure where you got that from, indeed, I think the fact that many teachers feel it will be a "lost day" for the students makes them LESS likely to call in sick.

[Rich Cabeza]

Most teachers get a % of their unused sick time when they retire so many will try NOT to use sick days. I save mine if something catastrophic happens like a heart attack or mental breakdown.