As a Chicago Public Schools teacher, I am disappointed and angered by this editorial “With 4 in 10 teachers ‘chronically absent’ in ’23, are CTU demands fair?” (Nov. 24). Two data points — that the Chicago Teachers Union is asking for 9% raises and that more than 41% of CPS teachers were absent for 10 or more days last year — are used to weave a story with little context or understanding that demonizes teachers, the large majority of whom are committed, caring professionals operating in often-extremely challenging working conditions.
On absences, is the Tribune Editorial Board suggesting that teachers should not be able to take sick days, parental leave and bereavement? How many corporate employees were absent for these reasons for more than 10 days during the same period? (Excluding the many who work remotely, of course, when as the board says, it is much easier to just show up for work.) Yes, teachers do get substantial breaks — but at set times, and unfortunately, life does not happen on set schedules.
I personally had to take more than 10 days off two years ago — for COVID-19 and to attend to my mother’s health and death following a traumatic accident.
In addition, teachers’ schedules during the day have no flexibility — we cannot just hop out of the classroom for a doctor’s appointment, and we may need to use sick days for those appointments. Teaching is also one of the few professions that requires more work to take a day off — in my three years as a teacher, this is the first year I have used a personal benefit day (for my father’s birthday celebration). Planning for a guest teacher, catching up on work after the day off, often just adds to the stress.
On pay, how wonderful it is that teachers in Chicago are receiving a fair salary. Teachers nationwide are woefully underpaid, so comparing the average salary of CPS teachers to other salaries is not helpful. Do members of the editorial board understand the intensity of this job, the nonstop nature of it, the trauma we take on for our students, the constant inability to fully meet their needs?
Speaking as someone who previously worked for decades in a high-pressure corporate environment, this is the toughest job I have ever had.
Teachers are on the front lines in educating and caring for Chicago’s children and shoulder an immense workload that is both intellectual and emotional. We are not lazy, uncaring fat cats. Please direct your ire elsewhere.
— Julie Johnson, Chicago
Editorial missing critical facts
I wish the Tribune Editorial Board would have included the number of teachers who were chronically absent who were also women. Many female teachers are also mothers. The editorial feels like a dig at working mothers who have paid time off to take — to take care of themselves and their families.
In my child’s first year of day care — which cost me $25,000 for a year — I was absent 18 days. She was sick 18 times, and I had no other help.
The editorial is missing facts about why teachers take the time off. What about having COVID-19? Do members of the board work with 100-plus different kids a day? How would their immune systems hold up?
The editorial feels very one-sided and absolutely misogynistic. Do better.
— Roxanne Piersanti, Chicago
No regard shown for teachers
The audacity of the Tribune Editorial Board to write an editorial when it has little to no regard for teachers’ humanity is astounding. The editorial is condescending, misguided and misogynistic.
In the U.S., 75% of teachers are women. Women often bear the brunt of domestic duties and child-rearing on top of their full-time jobs. Not to mention, teaching is an emotionally taxing and frequently undermined career. The argument that teachers get plenty of built-in time off is tired. Not only are many of the days off mentioned federal holidays that all corporate workers get, but also, there is a complete lack of acknowledgment that teachers often work on preparation throughout our breaks in order to maintain quality education for our students.
More so, the world keeps turning whether or not it is my allocated winter break. My relatives still get married, they get sick, they die, no matter the time of year. Am I supposed to exist as a nonteacher only on holiday breaks?
Most teachers work several hours outside their contract hours, with an average of about 10 to 15 hours a week. These are unpaid hours of work. Many teachers spend the summer working, both extra jobs to supplement income and in preparation for the school year ahead.
As a second grade teacher, every minute of my day is accounted for. I do not have time to sit and think. When I am not actively teaching, I am learning a new curriculum, planning lessons, fielding emails from parents, meeting with administration, grading, trying to find differentiation for my lessons, planning field trips, and planning how to fit in reading, writing, math, social studies, science and more into one day. When I need to take a day off, I am in charge of planning everything that happens the day I am not there. My days off are not days off.
Instead of questioning the teachers, maybe the board should be questioning how much the average Chicago Public Schools central office employee is making, how often they are at work and how much they actually do for our students.
The burnout for teachers is real, and it is dangerous. We want what is best for our students, but we also have to be realistic about our own limits. What is best for our students is well-paid and well-respected teachers.
Our schools will be strongest when our support of teachers and the work they do is a priority. Shame on the Tribune Editorial Board for publishing such uninformed dribble.
— Hannah Baker, Chicago
Sick days exist for a reason
I have worked in a school district in the south suburbs, and if there was anything that bothered me, it was teachers showing up for work when they were sick.
Please note that sick days are there for a reason. The average class size is getting close to 30 students, and that means exposure to a lot of kids and their germs.
If teachers have parental leave and Family and Medical Leave Act time, they have the right to use it. I’ll never forget the time that I was around a person who always showed up sick as a dog and then criticized me for staying home after spraying their germs all over me. I was in bed for five days with a temperature of more than 100 degrees.
Take a look at how many hours a teacher puts in compared with a 40-hour-a-week job others have. If you take out winter, spring and summer breaks, teachers still work more hours. Also remember they have to take continuing education classes to keep up their certification, and that is usually during the summertime. So, when they’re sick, they should stay home.
If the Tribune Editorial Board wants to discuss outrageous salary increases, it needs to find a better reason to bring that to the table.
— Yoka Ward, Homewood
Animosity driving this debate
The Nov. 24 editorial on “chronic” absenteeism among Chicago’s teachers is badly contrived to serve the Tribune Editorial Board’s animosity toward proposed union wages. It tries to impute guilt on teachers who are judged as pay-privileged by ignoring factors that might have painted a much different picture. The particulars matter.
First, actual circumstances that may well account for differences in the absenteeism among teachers versus other district employees are simply not reported.
Second, the red line of 10 absences or more is arbitrary. Are teachers targeted as more prone to cross that line than other city or private employees? There is no attempt in the editorial to put that in any context or perspective. Teachers are made special villains. The red line test may prove something or relatively nothing if the same standard is applied to other workers such as city department heads or police officers.
Serious debates over the school system are very much in order so long as the facts are fairly presented and false conclusions are avoided. The editorial is an attack that lacks credibility and fairness while impugning teachers’ dignity.
— Kenneth A. Briggs, Lakeville, Indiana
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