2 days ago, I completed my 1st year as a contract teacher without missing a single day of work. It wasn’t a whole school year - I started on October 10th as opposed to September 3rd. Perhaps if I had started like every other teacher in Ontario, I probably would have used a day or two of my 11 paid sick days.
I made some teachers uncomfortable because I didn’t take a day off. It was almost comical as they kept suggesting that I use a day or two as ‘mental health’ days. I wasn’t being judgemental of those using their sick days. My fellow teacher has 2 young children under the age of 10. So, she had to constantly deal with ear infections, colds, etc. I don’t have children that young right now. I do have one child under my roof who was absent from school quite a bit, but he didn’t need a parent home to take care of him. And just so I didn’t come across as a negligent parent and to not be considered an outsider, I had to share with my colleagues that I did take 17 years off to take care of the colds and coughs and other ailments!
Teacher absenteeism has been on the rise, and it hasn’t been pretty. So, they have introduced an Attendance Support Program (ASP) to ensure fewer disruptions to student learning. This hasn’t been received well by most teachers.
I am a teacher in an Autism classroom. We provide positive reinforcement for our students as much as possible to encourage them to achieve their goals. That’s what needs to be done with teachers too. Those who never miss a day should be quietly recognized and rewarded. Anyways, that’s above my paygrade. What I can do is announce my perfect attendance in my safe space and feel quietly good about it. Outside of here, I am someone to be hated and even feared. The irony of it!
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