I think the Star-Advertiser did a disservice to teachers with story on “teacher absenteeism” in Sunday’s edition (“Isle teachers miss 17 days on average“).
Unless I’m misreading the story, it appears teachers were actually at work and on duty the majority of what the Star-Advertiser calls “missed” days.
The problem is that the jumps between two distinct issues–teachers absent from their classroom for any reason, and teachers taking sick days.
I think the average reader will see the headline, read a bit of the story, and conclude that teachers are generally abusing sick leave.
The first few paragraphs report that teachers “were absent from their classrooms an average of 17 days last school year,” and a national expert is quoted about teachers absent 10 days or more having an impact on children’s learning.
Two key facts don’t appear until later in the story. First, “missed” days referred to in the headline included those days when teachers were at work and on duty. They were doing other parts of their official duties that take place out of the classroom.
The brief explanation appears in a paragraph split by the jump from the front page (in the print edition), where we learn that an “absent” teacher is most likely in training, professional development, or at school-sponsored activities.
Second, although teachers missed an average of 17 days, the majority of those absences involved teachers working outside the classroom. Here’s the math. According to the story, teachers missed an average of 17 days, which included an average of 7.5 sick leaves days. That seems to show a majority of absences, 9.5 days on average, involved teachers doing other official duties.
Yes, the educational implications need to be examined, and I credit the Star-Advertiser for pushing for release of these data. But failing to clearly distinguish sick leave from other valid official reasons for being out of class conveys a faulty impression to the reader and tends to reinforce a negative public perception of teachers.
You make some good points Ian but an “average” of 7.5 “sick” days per teacher is still a worthy fact and a blemish on the profession. Our company employs nearly 100 people and over two thirds had zero sick days last year. However, these are non union jobs. I wonder what the average number of days “sick” is with other state unions??
Are those 100 employees working closely with school age children who are constantly sick?
Are all other official duties besides teaching truly valid? Especially “professional development”? At KCC, “professional development” days can include an hour of yoga. I know this because I was there. I work at a better place now. Question needs to be answered.
Oops I meant LCC not KCC.
I’m curious as to the distribution of sick leave days. A small number of teachers with extended illnesses could, for example, skew the numbers.
Could childbearing result in an extended period of sick leave?
Per the first two grafs of the story, extended “illness” is frequent, not a skew from a few:
“Hawaii public school teachers were absent from their classrooms an average of 17 days last school year, and 26 percent of teachers took 10 or more sick days, according to newly released teacher absenteeism statistics that one national expert said should raise concerns.
“The state data also show the number of sick days teachers took varied widely, but that the percentage of teachers with 10 or more sick leave absences tended to be higher in rural areas and communities that serve low-income students.”
I, like sy, suspect that teachers who are quitting the profession take advantage of their unused sick days ………. and teacher turnover in Hawaii is reported as high.
Good point. I believe turnover tends to be higher in schools located in rural and low-income areas, although I suspect some of that turnover is of teachers moving to more desirable locations as opportunities arise, not necessarily leaving teaching for the DOE.
Does the DOE pay out unused sick leave when teachers resign or retire?
It would be interesting for HSTA to respond & explain high absenteeism. Who & why…? Having been a teacher, I suspect those that quit the profession try to use up their sick leave. Also, teachers with cancer & such use up all their sick leave & other teachers are asked to donate their days. Women do indeed use more sick days for maternity & own sick kids who can’t
I read that headline and the rest of the article and could never quite make sense of how it all fit together. Surely some good points, but needed a lot more editing and a more accurate headline.
Would be interesting to know how teachers compare with other government workers when it comes to sick leave.
Having been a manager and supervisor I know that you need to look at when those sick days occur. If one or more persons take most of their sick days on a Monday or Friday then you very likely have a problem which you need to deal with.