That’s funny because my kids’ teachers all said no matter what we were actually doing, to just call the kids in as “sick”. Even if it was something else that was an excused absence. Sick was always the right answer.
My dad said for time off work, always say “urgent personal business” and leave it at that.
That’s my go to lul. After a while I just need to rub my stomach and they know what I mean. They all think I’m a fat pos with a shit diet. Little do they know I actually eat really healthily and have been losing weight. I just like mental health days.
There’s this third party hotline we use to call in so it’s kind of separated in that they may not know our actual policy. Regardless anyone that has personal time knows what it’s for.
I called to use a personal day. “Hi I’m calling off for my shift tomorrow. I want to use a personal holiday.”
“Ok, why are you calling off?”
“Because I’m using a personal holiday. I have 30 hours left I want to use 10 tomorrow please.”
“Ok I have you for 10 hours personal holiday I just need a reason”
“I don’t need to provide a reason. It’s a personal holiday. As long as it’s no less than 8 hours before my shift, I just tell you guys I want to use a personal holiday. I don’t have to provide a reason.”
“So you don’t want to provide a reason?”
“No, thank you.”
That was basically the end of the conversation but I was just like “holy fuck lady please just stop” at the end. No one gives reasons for vacation days and personal holidays. Sick days ( if you’re lucky enough to have sick time) are implied. Even if I called off, didn’t have time to use and ate points, are you going to give me less points if I provide a reason? No. We’re not going to do that. We’re just being fucking nosey.
“I have plans” even if the plan is to sit on the couch in your underwear eating cheetos. “I’m going out of town” is similarly vague but people accept it.
That said I appreciate people like you who stick up for yourselves.
Just because it’s Nashville? Unless I missed it they didn’t say what she was going to. How do you know it wasn’t Drake and J.Cole at the Bridgestone Arena Feb 8th 2024, which would line up with the dates in the article?
Just because it’s country? How do you know it wasn’t Charley Crockett?
Just because you make stupid baseless assumptions based on your own biased preconceived notions? Well maybe we’re onto something here.
Your taxes are paying her wages, including sick days and paid vacation, whether she uses them on actual sickness or not, fuck it, let her have a little joy in her life.
I always thought it was weird when people told me their tax dollars pay my salary. Yeah, my tax dollars pay my salary too. It’s not like my income was tax free.
Also, as a side note, teachers don’t get vacation time. Yes, they get a lot of time off for holidays and summer, but they are not allowed to choose their vacation. So if there is something you want to do really badly, but it falls during the school year, well, tough titties. This includes people’s weddings or other major events like the birth of a nephew or something. Basically, if it’s not legally mandated that you can take off for it, you don’t get to take off. Fine. You take the good and bad with each job, and this just requires a lot more prescheduling and paying more money to go places during the busy seasons (which usually coincides with students being off school).
Her sick time, though, is part of her compensation package, but for some reason, she’s not allowed to use it? When I left the education system, I had 40 unused sick days because it was heavily frowned upon to be out sick. Did I get those paid out when I left? Nope. You just lose them. They get (40 days x 8 hours per day =) 320 hours that they get to just not pay me for or have to pay a sub for.
Those days off are part of her compensation package, meaning that instead of giving her a higher wage, they make the trade-off for other benefits, like those sick days. So there is a dollar figure that corresponds to each of those days that they are being paid with, and the general public seems to think they should just donate those benefits (which are the equivalent to money) to the government. Would you donate money to the government?
This is on top of the fact that teachers are not allowed to get overtime. This is on top of the low wages. This is on top of having to purchase their own supplies with that meager wage. This is on top of the high pressure and responsibility of the job. This is why over 50% of teachers leave the field completely within 5 years. I barely made it to 8 years before leaving.
I now work in the private sector making double what I did as a teacher, can take off whenever I want, and have a job that is a hundred times easier. When I have a difficult day at work, I remind myself that it’s still easier than teaching. My 3 weeks of vacation now is still better than the 12 weeks I got off as a teacher (most of which were spent sick as my body tried to recover from finally getting a moment without stress). They lost an excellent educator because I finally said f-it.
I don’t give a crap if she did see a concert. She should be able to use the time that she is being paid with instead of donating it. The tax dollars that she “cost” the taxpayers were already budgeted. Your taxes did not increase because she chose to use her sick time.
Most teachers get paid over the summer. Some districts allow you to get paid just during the weeks you work, but most spread the paychecks out over the year.
No they don’t, at least not in Texas. Here they get paid for the school year. Then they have the option to CHOOSE to have their pay spread out throughout the year. But unless they are teaching summer school, which is additional pay, they are not paid for the summer.
Where I’m at, the teacher can opt in to take some of thwir salary and put it aside automatically to continue to receive a salary during the summer, most of my teachers growing up had another job during that time.
Another day on the internet where I as a European am horrified what Americans put up with. Here in germany teaching is one of the best paid profession and of course they get paid during holidays.
In Finland even more so: the social status of teachers there is higher than doctors and lawyers. And they are constantly topping international comparisons of education systems.
The problem with “summer holidays” is that you ultimately need to prep for your new classes, so you’re starting before the kids get in. Alongside this, going on holiday is very expensive, since holiday prices are jacked up when the kids are out of school.
It’s a very stressful job with few perks. With that being said, in the UK the pay isn’t awful if you make it to a good level. It’s still arguably low for the hours they put in.
They aren’t being paid for summer though. Most teachers have a daily rate of pay for each work day. They then take that and divide it by 12 and pay the teachers once a month.
The paychecks received in June and July are for work done earlier in the year that are delayed so that teachers can budget easier and so the district can earn some interest on it.
Right, but that’s not the same as getting paid over summer. All you’re doing is deferring some of your current paycheck until then. I quit teaching in June and “got paid” through the end of August. Not because they are paying a teacher who quit, but because that was money I had already earned, and they were just hanging on to it for me.
I’m not responding further as this person is simply spreading misinformation to spread misinformation.To anyone else reading this, a simple web search will prove these statements about teachers being paid when they aren’t working false.
It might depend on the school district, but my family has worked for 3 different ones across a couple states, and they would not get paid monthly or anything over the summer. First check for them would come in September even, and we start school in mid to late August around here.
IIRC they would get a larger sum at the end of the school year to hold them over til the fall. I vaguely recall my step mom talking about how every year there would be a teacher who budgets poorly and forgets the first paycheck isn’t until September.
Teachers work during vacations. They need to prepare the next school year. Instead of using this to fight for more vacation for everyone you choose to use it as an argument to wish for less for teachers.
2 days off during the school year is insane, but teachers don’t really work during summer vacation. If the school picks a new book for their class then there’s work. They’re really just required to show up a couple weeks before school starts, at least in my state.
My step mom and her whole family were teachers (5 total). Ranging from kindergarten to high school. I don’t think any of them had as little as 2 days off allowed per school year, but I imagine some districts could be that shitty.
So, this whole “article” is pretty light on any details here.
Was this her first offense? Did she have vacation time and chose not to use it? Did she use up all of her vacation time and then chose to take sick days? Did she have other offenses that led up to this termination call?
I mean when I used to have a job with vacation/sick leave, no one ever got sacked for taking a sick day or two to just have some time off, UNLESS, it was chronic, you had other performance issues, or you used up all of your vacation and decided to game the system and took like a week long holiday anyways and got caught.
Most places I’ve taught in the US don’t have vacation days. You have sick days (10 a year, they stack), and personal days (3 a year, max of 5 before they turn into sick days).
Do remember that teachers generally work far, far longer each day than just 9-5. Their paid hours often don't give them time for lesson planning and marking.
Do remember that their “summers off” (which are often used to prep for the following year) are unpaid. Do also remember that when a person has been extremely stressed, their immune system will kick into high gear, helping to ward off illness during a time when energy is needed elsewhere. I.e. every paid break is spent being sick because your body finally went back to a normal immune system as you decompress. This, in turn, makes it difficult to enjoy your only actual vacation time.
Place I used to work at had your vacation days stack. Changed a lot to where it was use or lose and were able to not approve for what ever reason. Also told us not to take off around major holidays.
Changed out healthcare on us too. Became much worse. Found out high level employees had better vacation and better healthcare plans on top of that.
Wow, I’ve never had that much time off when working. We get 5 sick days from the state and 0-5 from the district. You lose any district days that you don’t use, but you keep any state days that aren’t used.
One of the teachers had never taken a day off in his 30+ years and had a ton of state days. They wouldn’t let him donate more than 5 to a teacher who just gave birth, so she had to come back to work after just 2 months.
Most places these days lump theb two together into “PTO” - mostly to shave a week or two of paid time put off us poor ununioned drones. Because America and capitalism suck.
In the USA I get 3 weeks paid vacation, 3 personal days, and more sick days than I ever need, about 2-3 accrue per month. But I have a good job, best one I’ve had yet.
Just an example of what is available out there to look for.
She owes them literally nothing more than “I won’t be in today.”
Despite what shitty bosses want you to think you are not required to divulge the nature of your absence to your employer when using allowable sick days.
Where I work in the US midwest, we are lucky if we get coverage when we take time off (let alone call-in sick) and are understaffed in all departments teacher-level and below payscale-wise (para, custodial, transportation, etc.). But I’m sure it’s different depending on the location, but that’s my experience.
Omg I wish that were true! We can’t get decent (or any) subs like 95% of the time. It used to be that you could sub with a bachelor’s degree and a substitute certificate or any teaching license. Now, we’re so desperate that it’s basically any adult who can pass a background check. Most of the time, teachers just ended up skipping their prep time to cover the missing teacher’s class.
Yeah, but Canadians don’t want to work as a teacher in the US. Like, it would be a bad idea for y’all because you would lose so much. We treat our teachers far worse. You’d get crappier pay, be treated like dirt by a large chunk of the populace, run the ever-increasing chance of getting shot on the job, and have to start paying health insurance premiums out of you light paycheck.
Mental health maintenance is a valid reason to use sick leave, and getting out of town to have some fun is exactly what people need from time to time. Her union should hire her a good lawyer to tell the district to pound sand.
The issue in this case is that if was planned with some time in advanced and notified the same day/day before.
If a coworker has any kind of emergency (family, health, mental) and takes the day off, I will sympathize, regardless of how that impacts me. If it’s planned but not communicated not so much.
Of course, I live in a country with 22+ paid days off + “unlimited” sick days and I in my role we usually are flexible with the time off. With very different conditions that might be more understandable.
When you live in a country where your vacation requests can be denied arbitrarily you might be tempted to just say ‘fuck em’ and let them know it’s not optional the day before you skip work.
I my experience with teaching in the U.S. sick days do get paid out at retirement. Teachers typically get 10 sick days a year and 3 personal days. The sick days stack but personal days turn to sick days after you have 5 banked.
Sick days are part of your compensation package. They are yours to do whatever the fuck you want with. There’s a reason most companies don’t call them sick days anymore.
Ah - so so there’s no rules or laws that apply, it’s all based on what it’s called. I never understood how US functions but I’m getting a better feel now. Thank you
She wouldn’t have to have used sick days if this God damn country had basic worker rights and gave people vacation time. Oh and a side note, many companies will 100% fire you if you use your vacation days. Fuck the American work environment
If I were a teacher, I’d know not to abandon my job to see a concert. If the job sucks so bad, don’t take it when it’s offered. But if you do take it, don’t try and justify bailing on it because you are underpaid.
“Sorry, I can’t come to the concert. I have to work that day.” That’s what an adult says in the same situation.
So, no. I think I won’t fuck off. Maybe grow up and learn how to talk to people that you disagree with.
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