Report on Absentee and Leave Policies
Introduction
Recently I have been tasked with the objective of examining the district spending on substitute
teachers and the amount of time students are forced to attend class under the leadership of a
substitute teacher. Analyses of the RI School District policies and comparisons with the policies
of the similar districts are provided. This report refers only to full-time certified teaching staff.
Current District Policy
Policy GCBDA – Professional Staff Short-Term Leave and Absences
-
Allowed 1 personal day per contract month (most teachers are on 9 month contracts)
90 personal days may be accumulated until they begin being paid out at $50 per day
annually
Personal and sick days are one and the same. Educators do not have to specify and leave
does not have to be approved by the administration.
Professional staff employees may be terminated for excessive absences (refer to policy for
specifics).
In conditions were the days allotted are used up then the employee’s salary will be deducted.
Employees are protected under the Family and Medical Leave Act and other applicable law.
There are numerous leaves which may be provided to full-time professional employees
which include:
o Military leave
o Election Leave
o Professional Leave
o Holidays
o Leave to vote
o Jury Duty Leave
o Court Subpoena
o Firefighter Leave
o Crime Victim Leave
o Civil Air Patrol Leave
o Coast Guard Auxiliary Leave
o Pregnancy, Childbirth and Adoption Leave
The policy has more information pertaining teacher absenteeism but I feel this gives you an
understanding of the district’s policy concerning the topic. Educators are absent for a number of
personal reasons including physical/mental health issues, and family and personal concerns.
Educators are often requested to set aside their classroom duties during a regular scheduled class
day in order to attend professional meetings (as development or to represent the district), field
trips, extracurricular contract activities, and curriculum development.
District Comparison
I have provided a table for comparison of other districts policies concerning the number of sick
days provided (on a 9 month contract), number of sick days able to accrue, number of personal
days annually, substitute teacher pay scale (comparable to our rating), and the existence of sick
pool for teachers to share sick days.
Malden
Sick Days
Accrue
Personal
Sub $
Sick Pool
-*
90
9
$65
No
Georgeto
wn
12
120
3
$65
Yes
Jackson
9
Unl.
2
$65
Yes
Park
Hill
10
Unl.
5
$95
Yes
Union
Cnty
7
Unl.
2
$55
No
Pulaski
Harrison
Dallas
Tupelo
12
125
2
$55
Yes
8
Unl.
2
$75
No
12
Unl.
5
$65
Yes
10
Unl.
2**
$63
Yes
*Sick and Personal days are one and the same in Malden
**No more than 10% of the staff may be out at one time.
Malden has kept our professional absenteeism simple by allowing educators 9 personal/sick days
per contract year. The reason the educator is requesting leave is the educators business and we
have not delved into their personal information. Comparing our policy with those of other
districts reaffirms my belief that our policies are fair and manageable for the size of our district.
Other larger districts force teachers to categorize every absentee and reprimand them if they are
forced to miss school for any reason not accommodated for.
Malden offers the least amount of forgivable absenteeism’s in a contract year of all the districts
surveyed with the exception of Union County School District. We also allow Malden teachers
the least amount of possible accruable sick/personal days until a teacher begins to get paid for the
days at $50 per day (an amount $15 less than we pay the substitute.)
The substitute teacher pay which we offer is not dependant on degrees or the length of time a
substitute works. The set amount is for every substitute regardless of their qualifications or
duties. All Missouri substitutes must be licensed through the state of Missouri DESE.
It is a general practice for our administrators to approve every absence either before or after the
call-in from a teacher for the need of a substitute. The principals and educators often write down
the reason for the absentee but there are only a few choices for the administrators to categorize
the absence in the district student management software. There is a short description for the
administrators to check when entering the absence but it is limited so simplify the process and
for accountability purposes.
Parental Opinions
I asked a few parents from our district to provide their thoughts concerning the absenteeism of
our educators and the impact they feel it has on their child’s learning.
o Parents seldom know when teachers will be absent until after the school day ends.
o Substitutes in the elementary building are viewed as providing adequate education
for the students in the absence of the classroom teacher
o Substitutes in the high school are viewed as simply babysitters who hand out class
work which they themselves are not equipped to help students with
o Though parents do not know the qualifications to be a substitute they are satisfied
with the district’s ability to determine who is suitable to substitute teach
o Parents are satisfied with the amount of time most teachers spend out of class and do
not feel teachers are placing their students in academic risk by being absent.
o Some parents had concern of the amount of time some specific teachers missed
classroom instruction time.
Principal Opinions
The administrators at the high school and elementary building were asked similar survey
questions as the parents and their opinions showed a large difference in needs at each level. The
elementary utilizes a large number of retired or former teachers to cover in the self-contained
classrooms. In the high school substitutes are often not qualified to teach the subject areas they
are covering. There is a lack of organization in the high school with placement of their
substitutes as well as a lack in subject area substitutes to provide the students with academic
progress in the absence of the teacher.
Recommendation
The absenteeism rate of the professional learning staff at Malden RI is not in need of many
changes. I have addressed some possible changes and provided my opinion of them all:
No change
o The number of sick/personal days has seemed to work fine for our district. There is
no need in changing the policy. Teachers are not forced to provide an explanation
every time they need to be absent. Teachers are allowed some trust, which some will
break, in the usage and timing of their absentees.
o Leave the possible accrued days at 90
o Sick pool – I recommend we continue to not offer Sick Leave Pool simple due to the
design of our sick leave policy. Educators have more days at their ready disposal and
do not have to provide doctor visit documentation. If they were only allowed a few
personal days combined with a few sick days per year then pooling the sick days
would be reasonable but under our present policy I see no need in it. I feel some
teachers may abuse the policy if it was made available.
Proposed changes
o The substitute rate of $65 is comparable with local districts. I propose the following
pay rates in an effort to hire qualified substitute teachers:
 $65 – base rate for all substitutes for a full day of work
 $70 – substitutes with a four year college degree not in education
 $75 – substitutes with a four year college degree in education
o Building principals design a set of expectations for the substitute teachers to utilize
and make this available to the teachers as well.
 On days when teachers are knowing they will be absent then the substitute
teacher will meet with them and go over classroom expectations.
o Assign substitutes to areas of their specialties if they have any.
Explanation
Malden RI School District is located in a low economic area with little to attract high quality
educators as far as yearly pay is concerned. The low tax-base of the district forces the educator
base salary to begin well below many comparably sized districts other places in the state. The
administration and Board of Education have worked to provide teachers with a competitive
health package and have been successful. One other benefit of working in the district is the
freedom (trust) we allot our educators to make the choice of using their personal/sick days.
Teachers have the right to decide the legitimacy of missing a day of school. The trust afforded
the educators builds an environment of respect combined with their concern for the wellness of
their students.
-
Teachers have verbalized many times how they did not want to be absent from their
classroom when asked to perform professional development or curriculum courses
There are some teachers who abuse the absentee policy currently in place but the majority of
teachers are responsible with the days they take off
Teachers are going to be absent whether we track why they are missing or not. The need is
not for fewer absentees but better substituting in the high school building.
Our district has the possibility of spending $45,000 yearly on contract teacher absentees which
are allotted. Each year the district only spends approximately $30,000 on substitute pay as most
teachers do not use all of their allotted days. We pay out an additional $1,000 being paid out to
teachers who have accrued more than 90 hours. Teacher turnover accounts for a lot of hours not
being paid on as they are lost when the teacher resigns.
The proposed changes will have minimal changes in the expenses compared with the possibility
of high quality substitutes the district will attract. The change in substitute pay will cost the
district an additional $5,000 at the most. The additional cost should allow our high school the
ability to staff the classrooms with effective substitute teachers.