Teachers with over 10 absences

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think people should stop using “per year” to describe leave taken within ten months not including the 39 vacation days already included.

I think people should stop calling them vacation days. Teachers aren’t paid in the summer. Think of it as being laid off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:Do you ever think about the teachers who don’t visit the doctor because they want to be present everyday?

Do they die earlier because of lack of medical care?

Would it matter to OP if it meant her kid had more consistency?

I’m not OP but do you get the impression doctors only work 185 days per year?

DP. My doctor works 3 days a week and has canceled two of my appointments this year last minute, making it ridiculously hard to reschedule since I’m limited to the last appointment of the day due to my teaching schedule.

The work flexibility she enjoys makes my life harder and keeps me from medical care.

But I’m not on here screaming about how “all doctors” create convenient schedules for themselves at the expense of their patients. You know… kind of like a poster here is screaming that teachers are enjoying vacations, etc., instead of using leave for more serious purposes.

I mean a poster is literally suggesting that OP wants teachers to die for lack of medical care, as though even if they taught all 195 days of their contract, there would not be plenty of days for medical care. Seems a little hysterical.

No, the PP “literally” didn’t say that. Don’t be ridiculous.

But it is true that it’s difficult for teachers to schedule medical appointments without missing class. Sorry, it just is. “No, that won’t work. What about next month? Anything after 4:30 is great. The month after that?”

Guess when doctors’ offices are open? On school days. And those holidays you love to point out? If the office is open, that is 100% the day I try to get. But I usually can’t because they are closed or booked solid.

I schedule the big things (colonoscopies, etc) for the summer. But you know what? Sometimes my medical needs don’t coincide with summer.

No doctors office in this area closes for 39 days between August and June please be serious. Nor are they booked solid for Eid. You are making teachers look entitled and yourself look absurd by trying to suggest a profession with incredible amounts of time off on weekdays is unable to access medical care.

I get frustrated when people who are outside of the profession speak as if they are experts. I snorted at your notion of “incredible amounts of time off on weekdays.” You are laughably ignorant of a teacher’s true schedule.

If saying it’s hard to make appointments after 4:30 makes me “entitled,” then I’ll happily own it. This just ventured into silliness.

If you teach in Fairfax County, you have 39 weekdays days off between August and June. Most professions don’t offer 39 days off between January and December. Check your privilege.

It’s amazing to me that we are such a privileged profession, yet we can’t keep classrooms filled. Perhaps it isn’t quite as flexible as you’d like to believe from your position outside looking in?

Because until I see people rushing to share in all this glorious privilege (like having to take a whole day of leave for a 45 minute appointment AND having to work just to take off), then I’m going to assume you’re just blowing hot air.

It’s 30 days off. You had some of them off as well. Did you miss a lot of school as a child? The ones where they taught you to count and read legends on graphs and such? Those days are also not part of teacher contracts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you ever think about the teachers who don’t visit the doctor because they want to be present everyday?

Do they die earlier because of lack of medical care?

Would it matter to OP if it meant her kid had more consistency?

I’m not OP but do you get the impression doctors only work 185 days per year?

DP. My doctor works 3 days a week and has canceled two of my appointments this year last minute, making it ridiculously hard to reschedule since I’m limited to the last appointment of the day due to my teaching schedule.

The work flexibility she enjoys makes my life harder and keeps me from medical care.

But I’m not on here screaming about how “all doctors” create convenient schedules for themselves at the expense of their patients. You know… kind of like a poster here is screaming that teachers are enjoying vacations, etc., instead of using leave for more serious purposes.

I mean a poster is literally suggesting that OP wants teachers to die for lack of medical care, as though even if they taught all 195 days of their contract, there would not be plenty of days for medical care. Seems a little hysterical.

No, the PP “literally” didn’t say that. Don’t be ridiculous.

But it is true that it’s difficult for teachers to schedule medical appointments without missing class. Sorry, it just is. “No, that won’t work. What about next month? Anything after 4:30 is great. The month after that?”

Guess when doctors’ offices are open? On school days. And those holidays you love to point out? If the office is open, that is 100% the day I try to get. But I usually can’t because they are closed or booked solid.

I schedule the big things (colonoscopies, etc) for the summer. But you know what? Sometimes my medical needs don’t coincide with summer.

No doctors office in this area closes for 39 days between August and June please be serious. Nor are they booked solid for Eid. You are making teachers look entitled and yourself look absurd by trying to suggest a profession with incredible amounts of time off on weekdays is unable to access medical care.

I get frustrated when people who are outside of the profession speak as if they are experts. I snorted at your notion of “incredible amounts of time off on weekdays.” You are laughably ignorant of a teacher’s true schedule.

If saying it’s hard to make appointments after 4:30 makes me “entitled,” then I’ll happily own it. This just ventured into silliness.

If you teach in Fairfax County, you have 39 weekdays days off between August and June. Most professions don’t offer 39 days off between January and December. Check your privilege.

Not a teacher but many professionals also make a heck of a lot more money than teachers.

You’re quick to continue to quote the 39 summer weekdays but you don’t mention anything about the evening and weekend hours teachers also work during the school year, well over their technical contract hours.

Not sure why you hate teachers so much.

You misunderstand. There are 39 non-classroom weekdays during the school. No subs. No plans. Doctors offices all open (other than major Xmas/Thanksgiving).

I don’t hate teachers. I have them in my family and among my friends. But NONE of them would get on the internet and say they had a hard time scheduling doctors appointments.

I was a teacher when my kid developed a life limiting illness. He needed to see many specialist and every single one of them had restrictions on what days they saw kids. I initially thought that since we saw multiple specialists at the same hospital, we could make it so we saw them on the same day. But in fact, one was only in clinic on T/Th, and the next one saw patients M, T, W, but each day was devoted to a different kind of patient, my kid's kind of patient was assigned Monday, and the third one was just Fridays. So, we'd at the same hospital 3 times in one week. One of the things that contributed to this was that doctors set aside time for paperwork, and prep work. No one accuses a doctor who doesn't see patients on Thursdays of not working on Thursday, because everyone realizes that a doctor's job involves time that isn't patient facing. But people like the one above, confuse non-classroom days with days off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you ever think about the teachers who don’t visit the doctor because they want to be present everyday?

Do they die earlier because of lack of medical care?

Would it matter to OP if it meant her kid had more consistency?

I’m not OP but do you get the impression doctors only work 185 days per year?

DP. My doctor works 3 days a week and has canceled two of my appointments this year last minute, making it ridiculously hard to reschedule since I’m limited to the last appointment of the day due to my teaching schedule.

The work flexibility she enjoys makes my life harder and keeps me from medical care.

But I’m not on here screaming about how “all doctors” create convenient schedules for themselves at the expense of their patients. You know… kind of like a poster here is screaming that teachers are enjoying vacations, etc., instead of using leave for more serious purposes.

I mean a poster is literally suggesting that OP wants teachers to die for lack of medical care, as though even if they taught all 195 days of their contract, there would not be plenty of days for medical care. Seems a little hysterical.

No, the PP “literally” didn’t say that. Don’t be ridiculous.

But it is true that it’s difficult for teachers to schedule medical appointments without missing class. Sorry, it just is. “No, that won’t work. What about next month? Anything after 4:30 is great. The month after that?”

Guess when doctors’ offices are open? On school days. And those holidays you love to point out? If the office is open, that is 100% the day I try to get. But I usually can’t because they are closed or booked solid.

I schedule the big things (colonoscopies, etc) for the summer. But you know what? Sometimes my medical needs don’t coincide with summer.

No doctors office in this area closes for 39 days between August and June please be serious. Nor are they booked solid for Eid. You are making teachers look entitled and yourself look absurd by trying to suggest a profession with incredible amounts of time off on weekdays is unable to access medical care.

I get frustrated when people who are outside of the profession speak as if they are experts. I snorted at your notion of “incredible amounts of time off on weekdays.” You are laughably ignorant of a teacher’s true schedule.

If saying it’s hard to make appointments after 4:30 makes me “entitled,” then I’ll happily own it. This just ventured into silliness.

If you teach in Fairfax County, you have 39 weekdays days off between August and June. Most professions don’t offer 39 days off between January and December. Check your privilege.

Not a teacher but many professionals also make a heck of a lot more money than teachers.

You’re quick to continue to quote the 39 summer weekdays but you don’t mention anything about the evening and weekend hours teachers also work during the school year, well over their technical contract hours.

Not sure why you hate teachers so much.

You misunderstand. There are 39 non-classroom weekdays during the school. No subs. No plans. Doctors offices all open (other than major Xmas/Thanksgiving).

I don’t hate teachers. I have them in my family and among my friends. But NONE of them would get on the internet and say they had a hard time scheduling doctors appointments.

I was a teacher when my kid developed a life limiting illness. He needed to see many specialist and every single one of them had restrictions on what days they saw kids. I initially thought that since we saw multiple specialists at the same hospital, we could make it so we saw them on the same day. But in fact, one was only in clinic on T/Th, and the next one saw patients M, T, W, but each day was devoted to a different kind of patient, my kid's kind of patient was assigned Monday, and the third one was just Fridays. So, we'd at the same hospital 3 times in one week. One of the things that contributed to this was that doctors set aside time for paperwork, and prep work. No one accuses a doctor who doesn't see patients on Thursdays of not working on Thursday, because everyone realizes that a doctor's job involves time that isn't patient facing. But people like the one above, confuse non-classroom days with days off.

The people claiming teachers never take leave because of sub plans being SO HARD are the ones being addressed by the 39 non-classroom weekdays.

Teachers are not morally superior to anyone else. Just like no one believes a computer scientist constantly “out sick” on a Friday is really ill, no one believes the surge in subs on Friday’s is driven by tragedies and illnesses like the posters are trying to portray. It’s not shameful to say teachers want four and five day weekends like everyone else.

[Anonymous]

News Flash. If a teacher wants to schedule a doctor appointment on a Monday or Friday, they can. Just like you can at your job. Oddly enough, the teachers aren’t tracking your absences. I get being worried about your kid when a teacher is out for months at a time. My son has had two long term subs this year. I don’t hold it against the teacher-unless they come back and never grade anything.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:News Flash. If a teacher wants to schedule a doctor appointment on a Monday or Friday, they can. Just like you can at your job. Oddly enough, the teachers aren’t tracking your absences. I get being worried about your kid when a teacher is out for months at a time. My son has had two long term subs this year. I don’t hold it against the teacher-unless they come back and never grade anything.

Go look at some of the bitter teacher threads from this winter. There are teachers who say they won’t provide make up work, slamming parents for taking children to visit relatives overseas, and look I get it — social media. But it is absolutely not the case that the schools don’t take a hyperactive interest in absences.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you ever think about the teachers who don’t visit the doctor because they want to be present everyday?

Do they die earlier because of lack of medical care?

Would it matter to OP if it meant her kid had more consistency?

I’m not OP but do you get the impression doctors only work 185 days per year?

DP. My doctor works 3 days a week and has canceled two of my appointments this year last minute, making it ridiculously hard to reschedule since I’m limited to the last appointment of the day due to my teaching schedule.

The work flexibility she enjoys makes my life harder and keeps me from medical care.

But I’m not on here screaming about how “all doctors” create convenient schedules for themselves at the expense of their patients. You know… kind of like a poster here is screaming that teachers are enjoying vacations, etc., instead of using leave for more serious purposes.

I mean a poster is literally suggesting that OP wants teachers to die for lack of medical care, as though even if they taught all 195 days of their contract, there would not be plenty of days for medical care. Seems a little hysterical.

No, the PP “literally” didn’t say that. Don’t be ridiculous.

But it is true that it’s difficult for teachers to schedule medical appointments without missing class. Sorry, it just is. “No, that won’t work. What about next month? Anything after 4:30 is great. The month after that?”

Guess when doctors’ offices are open? On school days. And those holidays you love to point out? If the office is open, that is 100% the day I try to get. But I usually can’t because they are closed or booked solid.

I schedule the big things (colonoscopies, etc) for the summer. But you know what? Sometimes my medical needs don’t coincide with summer.

No doctors office in this area closes for 39 days between August and June please be serious. Nor are they booked solid for Eid. You are making teachers look entitled and yourself look absurd by trying to suggest a profession with incredible amounts of time off on weekdays is unable to access medical care.

I get frustrated when people who are outside of the profession speak as if they are experts. I snorted at your notion of “incredible amounts of time off on weekdays.” You are laughably ignorant of a teacher’s true schedule.

If saying it’s hard to make appointments after 4:30 makes me “entitled,” then I’ll happily own it. This just ventured into silliness.

If you teach in Fairfax County, you have 39 weekdays days off between August and June. Most professions don’t offer 39 days off between January and December. Check your privilege.

It’s amazing to me that we are such a privileged profession, yet we can’t keep classrooms filled. Perhaps it isn’t quite as flexible as you’d like to believe from your position outside looking in?

Because until I see people rushing to share in all this glorious privilege (like having to take a whole day of leave for a 45 minute appointment AND having to work just to take off), then I’m going to assume you’re just blowing hot air.

It’s 30 days off. You had some of them off as well. Did you miss a lot of school as a child? The ones where they taught you to count and read legends on graphs and such? Those days are also not part of teacher contracts.

Look: walk in my shoes, then you can complain. I’m telling you through my long, lived experience that it’s hard to schedule doctor appointments. Guess what? Those “30 days off” (aka “days we aren’t paid for”) don’t always fall when I need them as somebody with documented medical issues.

I get it. You want to hold on to this image in your head of privileged, complaining teachers. Feel free. It doesn’t impact me one bit. That’s your issue to deal with.

[Anonymous]

Many people on this forum don't want teachers to be human.

-- They get pissed off when teachers get sick.
-- They get pissed off when teachers get pregnant.
-- They get pissed off when teachers' families get sick.
-- They get pissed off when teachers have deaths in their families.
-- They get pissed off at teachers when there are snow days, holidays, election days, etc.

At the same time, they think THEY should be allowed to take their kids out of school for as many days as they want and then they get pissed off when teachers put the comment about excessive absences on the child's report card.

These people are insufferable. They should get robots to teach their kids, for it is obvious that no human is good enough.

[Anonymous]

We go to weddings just like you do. They’re always on weekends. I’ve been to 3 this year. I have no control over when friends and family schedule them. I only get one person day each year so I have to use sick days to travel.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you ever think about the teachers who don’t visit the doctor because they want to be present everyday?

Do they die earlier because of lack of medical care?

Would it matter to OP if it meant her kid had more consistency?

I’m not OP but do you get the impression doctors only work 185 days per year?

DP. My doctor works 3 days a week and has canceled two of my appointments this year last minute, making it ridiculously hard to reschedule since I’m limited to the last appointment of the day due to my teaching schedule.

The work flexibility she enjoys makes my life harder and keeps me from medical care.

But I’m not on here screaming about how “all doctors” create convenient schedules for themselves at the expense of their patients. You know… kind of like a poster here is screaming that teachers are enjoying vacations, etc., instead of using leave for more serious purposes.

I mean a poster is literally suggesting that OP wants teachers to die for lack of medical care, as though even if they taught all 195 days of their contract, there would not be plenty of days for medical care. Seems a little hysterical.

No, the PP “literally” didn’t say that. Don’t be ridiculous.

But it is true that it’s difficult for teachers to schedule medical appointments without missing class. Sorry, it just is. “No, that won’t work. What about next month? Anything after 4:30 is great. The month after that?”

Guess when doctors’ offices are open? On school days. And those holidays you love to point out? If the office is open, that is 100% the day I try to get. But I usually can’t because they are closed or booked solid.

I schedule the big things (colonoscopies, etc) for the summer. But you know what? Sometimes my medical needs don’t coincide with summer.

No doctors office in this area closes for 39 days between August and June please be serious. Nor are they booked solid for Eid. You are making teachers look entitled and yourself look absurd by trying to suggest a profession with incredible amounts of time off on weekdays is unable to access medical care.

I get frustrated when people who are outside of the profession speak as if they are experts. I snorted at your notion of “incredible amounts of time off on weekdays.” You are laughably ignorant of a teacher’s true schedule.

If saying it’s hard to make appointments after 4:30 makes me “entitled,” then I’ll happily own it. This just ventured into silliness.

If you teach in Fairfax County, you have 39 weekdays days off between August and June. Most professions don’t offer 39 days off between January and December. Check your privilege.

Not a teacher but many professionals also make a heck of a lot more money than teachers.

You’re quick to continue to quote the 39 summer weekdays but you don’t mention anything about the evening and weekend hours teachers also work during the school year, well over their technical contract hours.

Not sure why you hate teachers so much.

You misunderstand. There are 39 non-classroom weekdays during the school. No subs. No plans. Doctors offices all open (other than major Xmas/Thanksgiving).

I don’t hate teachers. I have them in my family and among my friends. But NONE of them would get on the internet and say they had a hard time scheduling doctors appointments.

I was a teacher when my kid developed a life limiting illness. He needed to see many specialist and every single one of them had restrictions on what days they saw kids. I initially thought that since we saw multiple specialists at the same hospital, we could make it so we saw them on the same day. But in fact, one was only in clinic on T/Th, and the next one saw patients M, T, W, but each day was devoted to a different kind of patient, my kid's kind of patient was assigned Monday, and the third one was just Fridays. So, we'd at the same hospital 3 times in one week. One of the things that contributed to this was that doctors set aside time for paperwork, and prep work. No one accuses a doctor who doesn't see patients on Thursdays of not working on Thursday, because everyone realizes that a doctor's job involves time that isn't patient facing. But people like the one above, confuse non-classroom days with days off.

The people claiming teachers never take leave because of sub plans being SO HARD are the ones being addressed by the 39 non-classroom weekdays.

Teachers are not morally superior to anyone else. Just like no one believes a computer scientist constantly “out sick” on a Friday is really ill, no one believes the surge in subs on Friday’s is driven by tragedies and illnesses like the posters are trying to portray. It’s not shameful to say teachers want four and five day weekends like everyone else.

Now you’re making stuff up. Teachers don’t feel morally superior. Where the heck did that come from?

And yes, it’s hard to make sub plans, which keeps me from taking leave. And why are you complaining to teachers like me who don’t want to make sub plans? Doesn’t it benefit you and your child because we take less leave?

And why are you harping on about 39 days, telling us it’s so easy to schedule all of our needs (and all
of our family needs) on those days? Clearly we try to, since we don’t want to make plans. But it’s hard, and it’s okay for us to say that. You’re grasping at straws, desperately trying to find a reason to complain.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not really, I use 25 days of PTO a year at my job and not person on DCUM comments on it.

So, you must not have a demanding job if you can take that much time off. That translates to five work weeks. And, I assume you also get additional holidays.

A family member just got a promotion because a colleague was fired for using 30 days of PTO. How does your company get its work done?

I have an extremely demanding job and still manage to take my vacation time each year. It's part of my compensation, so I've earned it. Would you turn down a paycheck?

People who don't use their PTO are fools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not really, I use 25 days of PTO a year at my job and not person on DCUM comments on it.

So, you must not have a demanding job if you can take that much time off. That translates to five work weeks. And, I assume you also get additional holidays.

A family member just got a promotion because a colleague was fired for using 30 days of PTO. How does your company get its work done?

I have an extremely demanding job and still manage to take my vacation time each year. It's part of my compensation, so I've earned it. Would you turn down a paycheck?

People who don't use their PTO are fools.

The thread can end right here. Leave is part of a teacher’s earned compensation, so they can take it. Who cares if it’s for a mammogram, a wedding, or a trip?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No. What an odd, petty thing to ponder. Get hit with something like the flu, a family emergency, a couple of kids’ events, and it isn’t hard to take off 10 days in a FY.

100%

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:News Flash. If a teacher wants to schedule a doctor appointment on a Monday or Friday, they can. Just like you can at your job. Oddly enough, the teachers aren’t tracking your absences. I get being worried about your kid when a teacher is out for months at a time. My son has had two long term subs this year. I don’t hold it against the teacher-unless they come back and never grade anything.

Go look at some of the bitter teacher threads from this winter. There are teachers who say they won’t provide make up work, slamming parents for taking children to visit relatives overseas, and look I get it — social media. But it is absolutely not the case that the schools don’t take a hyperactive interest in

In my experience, the schools take a hyperactive interest in your child’s absences when they impact your child’s performance or when you complain the teachers isn’t doing their job, yet your student has accrued 25 absences. My kids have never been slammed for a trip because they’re held accountable for what they miss. Their absence does not create more work for the teacher.

The school takes no interest in your absences as an adult. Teachers are adults who’ve earned sick and personal days. They should be able to use them. Parents don’t get to dictate teachers’ use of benefits.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:News Flash. If a teacher wants to schedule a doctor appointment on a Monday or Friday, they can. Just like you can at your job. Oddly enough, the teachers aren’t tracking your absences. I get being worried about your kid when a teacher is out for months at a time. My son has had two long term subs this year. I don’t hold it against the teacher-unless they come back and never grade anything.

Go look at some of the bitter teacher threads from this winter. There are teachers who say they won’t provide make up work, slamming parents for taking children to visit relatives overseas, and look I get it — social media. But it is absolutely not the case that the schools don’t take a hyperactive interest in

In my experience, the schools take a hyperactive interest in your child’s absences when they impact your child’s performance or when you complain the teachers isn’t doing their job, yet your student has accrued 25 absences. My kids have never been slammed for a trip because they’re held accountable for what they miss. Their absence does not create more work for the teacher.

The school takes no interest in your absences as an adult. Teachers are adults who’ve earned sick and personal days. They should be able to use them. Parents don’t get to dictate teachers’ use of benefits.

With all due respect, it absolutely does still create more work for teachers. Even the most diligent, unicorn student who misses a week of school creates additional work. Whether it's preparing the work early, needing support clarifying things they didn't understand when they return, scheduling missed tests requiring me to stay after school late, handing me a stack of work upon their return that takes longer to grade since it's one off instead of a whole class of assignments, delaying my ability to pass back assessments to their peers since they didn't take them on time...it's a lot of little things that compound to a significant amount of time and energy.

I will never complain to your face, so you might not see any of the extra tasks your vacation causes a teacher, but they are absolutely there. To say, "My vacation doesn't impact anyone else" is incorrect. The job is easiest when everyone is present every day. Any absence, for any reason, causes teachers additional work.