When teachers cut class

[Jahness]

When teachers cut class



Remember those days when your teacher unexpectedly called in sick? Some hapless substitute walked in, briefly struggled to teach a lesson and then surrendered class time to "study hall."

Despite anecdotal and academic evidence that students don't learn as much from substitutes, many school districts appear to have a problem with truant teachers, especially on sunny Fridays. An Orlando Sentinel reporter recently found that one district had 35% more teachers sick on Fridays than Wednesdays. A Minneapolis reporter found similar absentee problems there.

Besides hurting kids' education, these suspicious absences deplete school funds that could be spent on other education priorities. Substitutes generally cost districts $60 to $100 a day.

Academic and financial costs incurred when teachers skip class argue for tougher attendance measures. But a recent Education Week survey of superintendents found little taste for confronting teachers' unions. One Florida superintendent threw up her hands in helplessness. She had no choice but to accept the word of teachers that they were sick, she said, and challenging teachers on skipping school wasn't something she was going to make into an "issue."

That's not good enough, especially considering recent evidence from researchers at Duke and Harvard universities confirming what common sense already suggests: Teacher absences affect student performance. The Harvard study found that 10 days of teacher absence is equivalent to a student drawing a rookie teacher rather than a second-year teacher. The Duke University study of North Carolina schools found similar results.

A few superintendents have launched programs to reward teachers who take fewer sick days than the contract allows. Other programs pay bonuses to schools that reduce their overall absence rates.

None of this should be necessary. Most teachers work hard in demanding jobs for modest pay, but they get home for dinner, have plenty of school holidays and breaks, and get summers off. It's grossly unprofessional for those who aren't really ill to take long weekends during the school year.

Perhaps supervisors need to start treating truant teachers like children and demanding notes from their parents and doctors.

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