School districts, students paying price for teacher absences

In The Arizona Republic, the topic of teacher absences is being discussed. It is agreed that the teachers who are feeling the stress of NCLB and IDEA are taking more sick days. It is also true that teachers are being exposed to more germs; parents are not taking time off their jobs so they send their sick children to school. In one district, it had budgeted $471,047 to cover the cost of substitute teachers but ended up spending $779,980. Ouch!

While the article does not offer solutions, I have one that I have always felt should be implemented in schools. It simply involves giving a teacher a bonus if he/she has only used no more that 2 sick days. When I worked for ASCD, the association had this simple incentive in place that paid you $150. Another approach is to have teachers get their own subs on a pre-approved list.

I do not have a solution for the 'sick kids in school' but clearly something needs to be done with a sick day policy for students. This spring at my school we had late cases of flu. During a two week period, we had anywhere from 67 to 130 kids absent out of 1200; otherwise, our normal rate is about 19 kids out sick. If the Avian flu does come, I feel schools will not be prepared and will contributor to an epidemic if schools are not more strict in regards with having sick children.