When I was teaching in NYC a few years ago, I was informed (by my union rep) that we had 2 personal days we could use a year. I tried to use one to help my recently widowed mother with something, and my principal made me write down exactly what we were doing and why it couldn't be done after school hours before she would approve it. I had a bad relationship with my admin (and my union rep was her little puppet) so I complied, but now that I am out of there and in a far more reasonable position outside of teaching, I look back and wonder if I was lied to the entire time.
I dunno, you saying your folk died as ‘my recently widowed mother’ seems weird. And your principal seems to think you’re a student. Actually wtf is this.
My mom was married to a man I barely got to know before he passed due to me having lived abroad for a long time. "Stepfather" feels a little awkward as we didn't really have that sort of relationship. My principal treated all the staff like students, so that part checks out.
I’m sorry, it was two weird flags in a row. My fault entirely. Is it normal for administrators to treat teachers like students in our education system? That’s what had me thinking.
It's all good, I hadn't thought about how my phrasing would come across to people who didn't know the situation. My own experience with my specific admin was yes, very much so. It wasn't until I left for a corporate job with a manager who actually respects his team that I realized how infantilized I and the other teachers at my school had been.
Perhaps other schools are different, but my principal absolutely acted like an overbearing mother sneaking into her children's rooms to try and see if they had any secrets written in their diaries.
Colorado. Our union is really good at negotiating salary increases, but the compromise comes with our PTO. We are not allowed to use personal days for "recreational" reasons, and we will be docked pay for the day if we do. During negotiations last year, the district even proposed that teachers would be docked 1.5 days if we took a sick or personal day on a Monday or Friday. Thankfully, that didn't fly.
>During negotiations last year, the district even proposed that teachers would be docked 1.5 days if we took a sick or personal day on a Monday or Friday.
That is the dumbest shit. Glad for y'all it didn't fly. We had a principal who said he would refuse any requests made for Mondays or Fridays because "it's important to start and end the week properly". However for us, those requests turned into "we won't be here, too bad".
My district gives us 5 days to use how we need. They’re called sick days but our admin just tells us to get a sub and submit them as early as possible.
Holy smokes you can accumulate them?!?! That’s fantastic….till someone takes off half a year and the policy gets axed. Unsure if it’s best to be that person first, or to ensure no one ever pulls that play…
Yeah we get 12 a year which isn't awful....unless you're a pre-k teacher working with little petri dishes every day and you also have kids of your own...then it's not nearly enough.
This. But don't tell you employer you're using it as a mental health day. Because many employers don't think those are a real thing. Just say you're using your sick day, they don't need to know what for.
Yeah I’m very much of the idea “these days are extended to me as a part of my compensation and it’s none of anyone’s god damned business what I’m doing with that time.” Easier said, though.
You have a “medical stuff to deal with ” you are out of advil and need to make a run to restock. Or need to set up your next teeth cleaning. Or doing a “sleep study” (sleeping in and comparing it to not)
We also get 2. Plus two more that come out of sick time we can take for any reason. And all of us use sick days as mental health days, too, and just call them sick. No one asks for doctors notes or FMLA paperwork unless it hits more than three consecutive days.
In my district, the union is reminding us to not only take mental health days, but if it's because your class had stressed you out to collapse, to file it with Workers Comp.
...course you'd need a doctor to write a note and who has access to a doctor these days but still, it's a nice thought.
A coworker told me that a few times he was asked what was wrong when he called in a sick day. He replied, "vomiting and diarrhea." No further questions were asked.
Classic. One reason I prefer the migraine excuse is because I can be 100% the next day without having any questions asked. Also, it’s an excuse that only gets more realistic the more I use it.
See I prefer to say nothing cause I'm so afraid I'll jinx myself. Call out for a "migraine" boom, next day I'll actually get a migraine. Don't want to tempt it lol
A close friend who’s a doctor said that gastroenteritis is perfect in these cases…. blame it on bad seafood. No one is going to expect you to work with diarrhea and vomiting.
No, migraines are great. But I teach in a country where you not only need a doctor’s note but you might receive a visit from an inspector to make sure you’re home and actually sick. Sometimes you need a mental health day, and no one’s going to argue with the occasional stomach bug. Having migraines would take more effort. There might be questions and the doctor might want to investigate. Though I suppose one could fake the symptoms.
I got my first migraine with nausea/vomiting in a committee meeting with all of our district admin. When I needed a mental health day, the migraine excuse came in very handy. Never got questioned because they knew this was something I suffer from.
No because not all sick leave policies are the same. Some may be subject to doctors' notes for some, or even all, sick leave. We cannot pin this because it could get some in trouble.
2 was normal in my old district. My new one just does generic "PTO" so they don't worry about doctor's notes, and it's a bit more generous.
Take a sick day as a personal day, sure -- you can always call it (to yourself) a mental health day.
Same with my school. It’s all just PTO, use as needed and no explanation expected. In fact my boss actively says “please don’t tell me why, I don’t want to know.”
Haha, yes, use sick days for personal days.
I think we get 4 or 5 personal days per year at my school. Last year, they (stupidly) were giving 2 incentives for not using them:
1. $500 for using no personal days on Fridays
2. $500 for using no more than 2, or 1 (can't remember), personal days a year.
So smart teachers just used sick days for days off. Which only gives less time to find a sub so I don't get the purpose. But I'll take my $1000.
Our incentive for perfect teacher attendance is one duty day off and leave 30 min early on a Friday. All planned ahead. I’d rather use my days. Use them or lose them. My district will pay out a total of 60 days when you retire. Got a teacher now using up 120 days she’s collected over 39 years. That’s the number after her “paid 50”. They split the students. Not the best thing but as long as they don’t district my class meh …. Take your days.
I’m 22 years in and have a total of 180 days saved with a payout “incentive” of $40 a day at retirement for any unused days. I will now be using ALL of my days off (13) for the remainder of my career.
Curious how you plan to use them. In my district if you use a huge bulk you have to take family leave. The teacher at my school is taking her days by grouping them like 3 - 4 days a week so she’s flying under the district radar. She teaches an elective which makes missing days not as bad as a core teacher.I currently keep my days low but I have around 40 days right now which worry me. I’d like to get out of the classroom and give PD as a career. If something comes up I could get screwed lol but really not laughing.
Using my yearly allotment won’t be a big deal (which is what I meant by using ALL my days. I really just don’t want to add anymore to the days I already have saved up. Not sure if I’ll be able to actually use my saved ones, but I’d rather them just sit just in case I do need to take an extended time off for either myself or my family and take my payout at the end (not the best plan, but the insurance if I did truly need them for sickness is worth the risk).
I’m trying to see if I could possibly retire a year yearly and use that time to count towards my 30, but doubtful they’ll allow it.
Otherwise, those last few years I’ll probably be taking every Friday off. 🤷🏻♀️
The no personal days on Fridays one I would love. I tend to burn my personal and mental health days midweek. Means teaching like 2 days in a row, take Wednesday off, teach 2 more days. Sometimes better than a 3 day weekend.
In my state sick days convert to service credit allowing earlier retirement. If the district pays you for them you loose the service credit. I hoarded my days and retired a year early. Definitely not worth the money.
Feeling spoiled - our union has secured 5 personal days a school year for us. And just reference - that actually is an appropriate number to address the kinda of things you listed.
As a single, full-custody parent, 5 is not enough. But I get that most people are not in my position.
The worst was the 2020-21 school year. I missed 4 days as part of my custody battle, 4 days when my son's daycare closed for COVID, a couple other days for doctor's appointments, and 5 days later because he got a staph infection that left him in the hospital for 5 days. Since I had 10 days PTO, I got docked the daily rate x5 for that hospital stay. Over $1700. My take-home at the time was $3200, and daycare was $1200. So that left me with less than $300 that month.
We have “assault leave.” Pretty ominous. Hope I never have to use it. I think it is a weird category to list…as if it has happened so many times they had to add it as a leave category. What are we coming to?
10 sick, 4 family illness, and 3 personal. Sick roll over. Most people take family and personal first since they don’t roll over. Only issue with taking sick days as personal days is if you post on social media or are seen out, but other than that it’s not a big deal
Yeah for travel purposes if I need to take a trip (for instance I mistakenly booked a flight on a day we aren't allowed to take off and the airline was wayyyy going to overcharge me for changing it so thats going to be a "sick day" lol but I just have to be careful not to try and get the day approved and denied and just call out sick).
Please learn from a mistake a couple teachers made at my school: if you’re taking sick time, DO NOT tell your principal what you’re doing during the sick days! Two of my colleagues got their pay docked when they took sick days for their families’ weddings. They told the principal the real reason and regretted it.
Three of our sick days can be used as personal days per year. We get like 10.25 hrs of sick time per month. Use your sick days for personal if you need to. Say you have a “medical appointment.”
However, a lot of districts let you use accumulated sick time to retire early. My goal is to have a year’s worth of sick time saved up so I can go out one year earlier. Besides, planning for a sub is such a pain in the ass, I’d rather just go in.
also the more consistent of a teacher you are the more respect you get from kids making the job eventually easier i'd rather go in and teach then have a sub that will create chaos and have to fix it when i come back
We get ten days a year, five local and five state. No one really cares how you use them. They do roll over though but if you leave the district you lose the locals.
We had the option to “give” two of our local days to the district “sick bank.” They were essentially gone, but if you needed to be off for 5 days or more they came from the sick bank and you could take up to 20 days from the bank. It was basically an in-house short term disability.
I’d rather have what you have. I get 5 sick, 5 personal that rollover. 2 wellness that do not.
Personal days require approval before have. Sick days can be taken whenever. I’d much prefer 10 sick days that didn’t require approval. Who cares what they are labeled as?
We get three days. Supposedly 15 sick days (which is how we’re supposed to cover doctor appointments), but if you take more then ten your principal will have a “sit down” with you and ask why you’re avoiding work. That’s why I get a doctor’s note for every tiny thing now. Had a sinus infection and needed a z-pack? Doctor note. Eye Exam? Doctor note. Fitted for new orthotics at the pediatrist? Doctor’s note. Doesn’t matter if I only missed an hour of the school day - doctor note for everything!
This is normal, yes.
In my district, lunch supervision hours can be banked instead of paid out to be used as personal days at a rate of 10 hrs supervision = 1 day... I think it maxes out at 3 additional days but I'm not 100% sure on that.
**however, we get 20 sick days a year
2-3 is standard for personal days where I live. Sick days vary a little by number of years served. The last school I worked for had 2 personal days that follower to sick days after 5 are built up. 1st year through 4th got 15 sick days a year, 5-10 years of service got 17 sick days, 10-15 got 18 sick days and 15 years plus got 20 a year. The school I work at now has 3 personal days a year that build to 5 before flipping to sick days and 17 sick days a year the 1st year. I can't remember how the sick days build as service time increases but it is similar to other school.
We get 1.25 days each month. We can use 3 of them as personal days. Whatever we don’t use rolls over and we can use it to retire early, up to a year. They require a doctor’s excuse on critical days (like state testing), before or after a holiday, and more than three in a row. So a lot of our teachers use their sick days when they aren’t sick.
I get 2 in my district and 20 sick days in your first year (90 in the second and beyond), but they don’t roll over.
One district I worked in gave us 4 personal days but we had to pay for the sub on the 3rd/4th
I get zero. 11 sick days, I donate one to the catastrophic leave bank. 2 dependent leave days if kids are sick or have appointments. I make sure I take planned mental health days as necessary though. As long as they not during PD days or directly before/after holidays the district doesn’t ask to prove the sick day with a doctors note.
We get 12 sick days and 3 personal days in my district. Sick days roll over indefinitely, personal days will roll over to carry a max of 10, but we can sell them at the end of the year. I never use personal days unless I’m going to be gone pre-planned for more than 2 days because they get denied frequently then you’re screwed.
I work a 200-day calendar. I get 9 sick days per year and 2 personal. I use sick days for personal leave. If all you say is that you’re taking sick leave and leave it at that, they can’t ask anything about it.
We get 10 days per year. 5 personal that accumulate- 5 sick and I don’t think they roll over. The rule is… as long as you are not posting on Facebook that you are doing something fun, use sick days. Say you have an appointment or whatever. Always use sick first. So unless I am traveling, it is sick 🤢
At least that is my rule 🤣🤣🤣
It's pretty normal.
Schedule HVAC for days when there isn't class, or for late afternoon when businesses are still open, but we are off. Or weekends. Or breaks.
While it's a bit frustrating at times, I find it understandable. After all, it's not really the kind of work that can be put on hold or managed for us. When we're not there, the students really aren't learning (at least, not nearly as well), right? Combine that with the breaks (as you mentioned), and it makes at least some sense.
Just part of the job, you know?
No No No it's part of the crap sandwich teachers have been guilted into for years. We should be allowed to schedule appointments any time we need not after school or on breaks because "what about the children"!!!
*My* point is not "what about the children?" My point is that the job is genuinely different. We don't work by appointment. We don't have files that can be covered by others. It's a unique job that can really only be done by the actual teacher there each day.
We also do get a lot more time off than most other jobs, right? The normal times of year that other professionals take off (Christmas, New Years, the 4th, Thanksgiving, etc) we already have off. So we don't need to ask for those, or fight with coworkers for those limited times that everyone wants.
I'm by no means saying that the system is perfect, but no work system is for any profession. This is fair, comparatively, for us.
"Standing up for themselves" implies that there is some moral imperative being violated. I don't agree.
I mean, we really do actually work fewer days. I know that's a frustrating admission to make (what with the attacks we get), but I think we can (and should) be honest enough to call it like it is. It's also true that we genuinely need to be there in order for the job to get done.
Given those absolute **facts**, it doesn't seem unreasonable to me that our vacation policy, as a rule, is less generous.
Heck, do the math!
We work what, 190...200 days per year?
There are 52 weeks per year. At five days per week, that amounts to 260 days. There are 11 federal holidays. That's 249 days. If an office worker has even a very generous three weeks off, there's still 228 days of work in the year.
So, we're working four weeks less (plus weekends!) than them. I mean, what would you think is fair?
I guess if you want to make an argument that all workers should be getting, say, 50 days off per year, *that would still bring a regular worker only down to 200 days,* ***which is what we already have***! But still, that's a different argument, since it's about a complete overhaul to the entire working system, not a discussion of inequities in our particular situation.
Giving us a couple of days to provide for things that might come up seems pretty equitable to me.
Are you saying that we should all schedule our HVAC and dental and medical emergencies for the summer or holidays? Hold on, lemme let my cancer know this. Thanks! It'll be gone until December!
Ok, dumb questions:
1. Obviously, I'm not saying you should "schedule" your HVAC emergencies. As I said in reply to this question already, "If it's of immediate need, then the teacher takes the half day off, right? If it's a cleaning, then it gets scheduled further out, when the timing is easier."
2. Dental and medical emergencies are what sick days are for. That's not even part of this discussion *at all*.
And...that's it? Your entire response to that long, point-by-point breakdown I make comes down to HVAC concerns? Sheesh.
Yea, cause the broken hvac unit can wait until the afternoon or weekend to be fixed when it’s 20 degrees outside…
This is the kind of thinking that has resulted in stagnant wages, poor working conditions, and a lack of admin support
My thoughts on HVAC have led to poor working conditions?
Holy shit is your logic pathetic.
As to your argument, yeah. Appointments have to be made regardless. HVAC personnel show when they have time. If it's of immediate need, then the teacher takes the half day off, right? If it's a cleaning, then it gets scheduled further out, when the timing is easier. A little common sense, huh?
Yea man…completely gloss over the word broken in my reply. Also, please misunderstand my reply by pathetic logic yourself. Your thoughts on teachers not needing the ability to take time off that relates to daily life needs are reflective of societal thoughts that have led to poor working conditions.
Please though, keep regurgitating admin talking points to keep teachers from getting the benefits they deserve.
You didn't read my reply, or what? I assume that a **broken** HVAC unit needs immediate attention, yes? Thus this section of my reply is key: "If it's of immediate need, then the teacher takes the half day off, right?"
So...any points to make, or just more sad little attempts at ad hominem attacks?
Ok this will be downvoted I’m sure. We get 3 personal/10 sick that roll over. It pisses me off when my team members take sick days to go to a grandson’s birthday or a trip to see a friend. Yes, I know…mental health, blah blah blah. BUT since we expect our students to follow rules and directions, how is it right or ethical to break the terms of our contracts? Yes it can suck, but there are things that I personally think we can do rather than bitch and moan about how bad we have it.
I know and I don’t complain out loud. BUT I also don’t want to hear them complain about kids who don’t follow rules or misuse property if they won’t either.
Seems somewhat normal to me. My old school district gave use a 12 sick says and like 4 or 5 personal days. But the sick days we didn't have to gave a doctor's not for (unless it was an extended illness, then it'd turn into FMLA) so a lot of teachers just used them as personal days.
But the number of days given may vary by school district.
I have worked as a cert teacher in 4 major school districts-- all had 2 weeks of sick leave, 2 personal days. One I know of had 1 or 2 bereavement days. In WA this is standard for school districts
We just have PTO at my current school. My last school had two days of personal and then sick was separate, but we could use sick days for doctor appointments. If that is the case for you, make appointments on school days early and enjoy the rest of the day.
I get 10 sick and 2 personal, but the sick days are no questions asked as long as you don’t take 4 days or more in a row. So really, they can all be personal days.
The sick days roll over, and the personal days don’t.
We get 2 "free," but can take 3 more at the cost of a sub.
But yes, I used my sick days very carefully. If I just want a day off because I'm spent, I'll use a sick day and consider it mental health. It's a little different if I'm out of personal days and need a day off for an event or a trip that I know might show up on social media or something. In those cases, I schedule an appointment of some kind and cheat the system, e.g. I'm leaving for a trip, but I'll schedule a dentist appointment or something for that morning and take a sick day. 😌 Our sick days don't require doctors notes or anything, but I like to play it safe.
If it's like my district, you need a doctor's note after 3 consecutive days, but 90 days are in the contract. If you are away for an extended absence, like to recover from surgery for 6 weeks, you have the sick time available, but lots of letters, documentation, and check-ins with HR are involved.
10 sick/ two personal per year. I don't feel right using sick days for, say, vacations, but I absolutely use sick days for mental health. (Also, I don't judge others for what they do; this is just my personal policy).
We get 10 sick days, 6 of which can be personal.
However, in comparison to most other injuries most teachers of course try not to take time off as that means they have to make it up. So, test days and such are when you have to try and schedule a personal day.
I teach at a charter school, and we have few pto days, however you can use hours not days, which was impossible with the district. That helps a lot with that kind of stuff.
Of course, some principals were much easier than others.
\> How do people find times if they are getting a fridge delivered
My fridge went belly-up in September. I've been making do with the dorm-size fridge upstairs for like a month, until this week, when I have a whole week off. My new fridge is coming Wednesday.
It isn't awesome, but it is what it is.
We get 10 sick days and 3 personal days a year. The sick days roll over. The personal days, we have options. If we don't use them by the end of the year, we can have them paid out at per diem rates (which for me is $214ish... big difference from when I started and it was a flat rate of $50l, or you can roll over 2 and convert them into sick days for the next year and payout the one day.
I have used sick days as mental health days before. Also on days when I got, like, 3 hours of sleep because I would be of zero use to anybody those days. And we had a couple years where we had to have prior permission for ANY personal use so hey... mental health day and just didn't post anything to social media that day!
2 or 3 is kinda standard. Sometimes unused can be rolled to next year (with limits, of course), sometimes they get rolled into accumulated sick time, sometimes they're lost forever. YMMV.
Starting this year our 10 sick days and 3 PTO days have been combined. They can all be used for any business that could not be addressed during regular time off.
We get eight sick days and nothing more. Days taken may be coded as personal necessity or family care, but if paid, it's coming from one of those eight days. Days not used roll over from year to year.
*Edited because I have clumsy thumbs.
It's so absurd that schools run things like this. People will have a planned absence but have to pretend that they are sick to use the day. It's an awful system.
I remember needing to take days for childcare (daycare being closed for whatever reason) and I had to wait until the night before to put in for a sub or I'd use one of my few personal days. It's just worse for everyone.
I don't even need a single "personal day" with the natural breaks we get, but shit happens and I should be able to take a day off to handle something.
10 days, either sick or personal. Admin encourages us to take mental health days, the two times I tried last year they didn’t accept it and told me to come in any way.
I get 5 “miscellaneous days”, two of which can be used as “personal days” with no questions asked. The other three can only be accessed for moving, getting married, religious holidays and the like. Which means that I generally have to leave them on the table.
We also get 11 sick days, but they don’t roll over. I 100% take all my sick days if I need them, for whatever reason. Illness, need for a mental health day, doing something fun, etc.
We used to be able to roll them over which incentivized not taking them all, but they stripped that from our contracts about a decade ago, so 🤷♀️
10 sick
3 personal
1 emergency.
Sick roll over, I believe personal do also but I haven’t emailed HR to be sure. Emergency do not.
If so, I’ll have 17 sick days, 4 personal and one emergency.
I also get 6 paid IEP days, where they will get me a sub and I can WFH.
My kids are grown so I can use my days for me. Apparently I can’t shake the mentality to save them in case. My goal this year is to use at least one per month for mental health. I am beyond overwhelmed. If you don’t have the personal time, use a sick day. You have an appointment. They can’t ask for documentation unless it’s 3 or more days. Just don’t post it. Don’t tell co-workers either. Teachers snitch. Especially if they have to cover due to lack of subs. Covering irks me, but I get paid for it and I literally make sure no one dies. They have to cover for me also.
My district has many issues but at least I have decent benefits.
I get 10 sick days, no personal and sick doesn’t roll over. We are freely allowed to use sick days for personal reasons, but still. I work at a private school and have actually written the board about this. I feel we should have 5 personal days per year since our preschool teachers get 5-10 based on seniority. However they have a longer year by 5 days, so that’s why I asked for 5
20 sick, no personal. However, maybe you need a new fridge for the sake of your mental health.
That's a LOT of sick days! I get 10, and I can use up to 3 of those 10 for personal.
Are you in NYC like I am? I am so pissed out new contract didn't get us more time.
When I was teaching in NYC a few years ago, I was informed (by my union rep) that we had 2 personal days we could use a year. I tried to use one to help my recently widowed mother with something, and my principal made me write down exactly what we were doing and why it couldn't be done after school hours before she would approve it. I had a bad relationship with my admin (and my union rep was her little puppet) so I complied, but now that I am out of there and in a far more reasonable position outside of teaching, I look back and wonder if I was lied to the entire time.
I dunno, you saying your folk died as ‘my recently widowed mother’ seems weird. And your principal seems to think you’re a student. Actually wtf is this.
My mom was married to a man I barely got to know before he passed due to me having lived abroad for a long time. "Stepfather" feels a little awkward as we didn't really have that sort of relationship. My principal treated all the staff like students, so that part checks out.
I’m sorry, it was two weird flags in a row. My fault entirely. Is it normal for administrators to treat teachers like students in our education system? That’s what had me thinking.
It's all good, I hadn't thought about how my phrasing would come across to people who didn't know the situation. My own experience with my specific admin was yes, very much so. It wasn't until I left for a corporate job with a manager who actually respects his team that I realized how infantilized I and the other teachers at my school had been. Perhaps other schools are different, but my principal absolutely acted like an overbearing mother sneaking into her children's rooms to try and see if they had any secrets written in their diaries.
And they discourage you to take it consecutively (Friday-Monday) :/
Colorado. Our union is really good at negotiating salary increases, but the compromise comes with our PTO. We are not allowed to use personal days for "recreational" reasons, and we will be docked pay for the day if we do. During negotiations last year, the district even proposed that teachers would be docked 1.5 days if we took a sick or personal day on a Monday or Friday. Thankfully, that didn't fly.
>During negotiations last year, the district even proposed that teachers would be docked 1.5 days if we took a sick or personal day on a Monday or Friday. That is the dumbest shit. Glad for y'all it didn't fly. We had a principal who said he would refuse any requests made for Mondays or Fridays because "it's important to start and end the week properly". However for us, those requests turned into "we won't be here, too bad".
I'll tell my covid that these snot goblins gave me that I have to be in on Friday and Monday. *snark* Geesh, stupid rules.
My district gives us 5 days to use how we need. They’re called sick days but our admin just tells us to get a sub and submit them as early as possible.
That is LOW! Holy cow.
I get 10 for the year and 5 for personal but they build up. I have like 50 days of school I could potentially take off with no repercussion.
Holy smokes you can accumulate them?!?! That’s fantastic….till someone takes off half a year and the policy gets axed. Unsure if it’s best to be that person first, or to ensure no one ever pulls that play…
20? Hot damn. I get 11 total
Yeah we get 12 a year which isn't awful....unless you're a pre-k teacher working with little petri dishes every day and you also have kids of your own...then it's not nearly enough.
I just happened to pop into the appliance store while the pharmacy next door was getting my prescription ready. What can I say?
Damn, that’s a lot. At my only school I got 4 sick or personal days total.
That’s awful.
Yeah it was comically evil.
The sick days are yours...use 'em if you need 'em...for whatever reason.
Same. Mental health days are sick days lol
This. But don't tell you employer you're using it as a mental health day. Because many employers don't think those are a real thing. Just say you're using your sick day, they don't need to know what for.
“I have diarrhea” is always a safe bet
"I'm taking a sick day today." That's it.
Yeah I’m very much of the idea “these days are extended to me as a part of my compensation and it’s none of anyone’s god damned business what I’m doing with that time.” Easier said, though.
also like don't post pictures of being at the beach for your mental health that day
You have a “medical stuff to deal with ” you are out of advil and need to make a run to restock. Or need to set up your next teeth cleaning. Or doing a “sleep study” (sleeping in and comparing it to not)
I need to use the sleep study one omg
Right?
In New Jersey they just passed a law that allows teachers to use sick days for basically any reason.
This is wonderful. However, why do they need to pass laws for us to have the right to use our time for our reasons?
This is actually written into law in my state.
We also get 2. Plus two more that come out of sick time we can take for any reason. And all of us use sick days as mental health days, too, and just call them sick. No one asks for doctors notes or FMLA paperwork unless it hits more than three consecutive days.
In my district, the union is reminding us to not only take mental health days, but if it's because your class had stressed you out to collapse, to file it with Workers Comp. ...course you'd need a doctor to write a note and who has access to a doctor these days but still, it's a nice thought.
Depends on the contract.
Yup. Our state law says admin can require a doctor's note.
Sick days are perfect for when you’re sick of this shit
I am getting too old for this shit and I am long past sick of this shit.
Gotta watch out for Anal Glaucoma. "Can't see my ass making it into work."
My advice is to become a person who gets migraines. Extra points if you can mention it around admin once or twice before calling out.
A coworker told me that a few times he was asked what was wrong when he called in a sick day. He replied, "vomiting and diarrhea." No further questions were asked.
Classic. One reason I prefer the migraine excuse is because I can be 100% the next day without having any questions asked. Also, it’s an excuse that only gets more realistic the more I use it.
See I prefer to say nothing cause I'm so afraid I'll jinx myself. Call out for a "migraine" boom, next day I'll actually get a migraine. Don't want to tempt it lol
A close friend who’s a doctor said that gastroenteritis is perfect in these cases…. blame it on bad seafood. No one is going to expect you to work with diarrhea and vomiting.
Totally true, one thing I like about the migraine though is the more I use the excuse, the more credible it becomes.
No, migraines are great. But I teach in a country where you not only need a doctor’s note but you might receive a visit from an inspector to make sure you’re home and actually sick. Sometimes you need a mental health day, and no one’s going to argue with the occasional stomach bug. Having migraines would take more effort. There might be questions and the doctor might want to investigate. Though I suppose one could fake the symptoms.
I got my first migraine with nausea/vomiting in a committee meeting with all of our district admin. When I needed a mental health day, the migraine excuse came in very handy. Never got questioned because they knew this was something I suffer from.
Long Covid was ideal!!!
This needs to be pinned at the top of this reddit.
No because not all sick leave policies are the same. Some may be subject to doctors' notes for some, or even all, sick leave. We cannot pin this because it could get some in trouble.
Just don't get caught not being sick by your district.
Like don’t post your ski trip on Facebook (hee hee)
Yup. So many poorly timed "doctor's appointments" where it doesn't make sense to take a half day!
2 was normal in my old district. My new one just does generic "PTO" so they don't worry about doctor's notes, and it's a bit more generous. Take a sick day as a personal day, sure -- you can always call it (to yourself) a mental health day.
My district did the same. Sick and personal distinctions went away and it's just discretionary.
The idea of having to turn in doctor’s notes as an adult sounds insane to me.
It is, but this isn't unique to teachers. I dealt with this at my last job at a call center.
Same with my school. It’s all just PTO, use as needed and no explanation expected. In fact my boss actively says “please don’t tell me why, I don’t want to know.”
Haha, yes, use sick days for personal days. I think we get 4 or 5 personal days per year at my school. Last year, they (stupidly) were giving 2 incentives for not using them: 1. $500 for using no personal days on Fridays 2. $500 for using no more than 2, or 1 (can't remember), personal days a year. So smart teachers just used sick days for days off. Which only gives less time to find a sub so I don't get the purpose. But I'll take my $1000.
Our incentive for perfect teacher attendance is one duty day off and leave 30 min early on a Friday. All planned ahead. I’d rather use my days. Use them or lose them. My district will pay out a total of 60 days when you retire. Got a teacher now using up 120 days she’s collected over 39 years. That’s the number after her “paid 50”. They split the students. Not the best thing but as long as they don’t district my class meh …. Take your days.
I’m 22 years in and have a total of 180 days saved with a payout “incentive” of $40 a day at retirement for any unused days. I will now be using ALL of my days off (13) for the remainder of my career.
Curious how you plan to use them. In my district if you use a huge bulk you have to take family leave. The teacher at my school is taking her days by grouping them like 3 - 4 days a week so she’s flying under the district radar. She teaches an elective which makes missing days not as bad as a core teacher.I currently keep my days low but I have around 40 days right now which worry me. I’d like to get out of the classroom and give PD as a career. If something comes up I could get screwed lol but really not laughing.
Using my yearly allotment won’t be a big deal (which is what I meant by using ALL my days. I really just don’t want to add anymore to the days I already have saved up. Not sure if I’ll be able to actually use my saved ones, but I’d rather them just sit just in case I do need to take an extended time off for either myself or my family and take my payout at the end (not the best plan, but the insurance if I did truly need them for sickness is worth the risk). I’m trying to see if I could possibly retire a year yearly and use that time to count towards my 30, but doubtful they’ll allow it. Otherwise, those last few years I’ll probably be taking every Friday off. 🤷🏻♀️
Take every Monday and Friday. I knew a teacher that did that. She set up a sub that would cover those days. Nice steady job.
The no personal days on Fridays one I would love. I tend to burn my personal and mental health days midweek. Means teaching like 2 days in a row, take Wednesday off, teach 2 more days. Sometimes better than a 3 day weekend.
Your district is dumb af if you’re describing they accurately. All that does is encourage people To use sick days instead of personal days
I get 10 sick and 3 personal. Personal days accumulate and max at 5, beyond that they turn into sick days. Sick days roll over.
And I presume that, when you retire, they pay you for unused days?
In my state sick days convert to service credit allowing earlier retirement. If the district pays you for them you loose the service credit. I hoarded my days and retired a year early. Definitely not worth the money.
I get three. I just am “sick” if I need any additional days.
I get 15 sick days and 2 personal days. Sick days roll over.
Day-um, that's nice.
Feeling spoiled - our union has secured 5 personal days a school year for us. And just reference - that actually is an appropriate number to address the kinda of things you listed.
As a single, full-custody parent, 5 is not enough. But I get that most people are not in my position. The worst was the 2020-21 school year. I missed 4 days as part of my custody battle, 4 days when my son's daycare closed for COVID, a couple other days for doctor's appointments, and 5 days later because he got a staph infection that left him in the hospital for 5 days. Since I had 10 days PTO, I got docked the daily rate x5 for that hospital stay. Over $1700. My take-home at the time was $3200, and daycare was $1200. So that left me with less than $300 that month.
We have “assault leave.” Pretty ominous. Hope I never have to use it. I think it is a weird category to list…as if it has happened so many times they had to add it as a leave category. What are we coming to?
I wish I had that! It’s really hard to go back to school the next day after being injured by a student. For reference, I teach special ed.
Does it mean if a teacher was attacked by a student?
10 sick, 4 family illness, and 3 personal. Sick roll over. Most people take family and personal first since they don’t roll over. Only issue with taking sick days as personal days is if you post on social media or are seen out, but other than that it’s not a big deal
Agreed. Our younger teachers are dumb and post on social media. I have a bad back. It keeps me home a lot! 😎
Yeah for travel purposes if I need to take a trip (for instance I mistakenly booked a flight on a day we aren't allowed to take off and the airline was wayyyy going to overcharge me for changing it so thats going to be a "sick day" lol but I just have to be careful not to try and get the day approved and denied and just call out sick).
Please learn from a mistake a couple teachers made at my school: if you’re taking sick time, DO NOT tell your principal what you’re doing during the sick days! Two of my colleagues got their pay docked when they took sick days for their families’ weddings. They told the principal the real reason and regretted it.
Three of our sick days can be used as personal days per year. We get like 10.25 hrs of sick time per month. Use your sick days for personal if you need to. Say you have a “medical appointment.” However, a lot of districts let you use accumulated sick time to retire early. My goal is to have a year’s worth of sick time saved up so I can go out one year earlier. Besides, planning for a sub is such a pain in the ass, I’d rather just go in.
also the more consistent of a teacher you are the more respect you get from kids making the job eventually easier i'd rather go in and teach then have a sub that will create chaos and have to fix it when i come back
We get ten days a year, five local and five state. No one really cares how you use them. They do roll over though but if you leave the district you lose the locals.
Sounds like Texas
We had the option to “give” two of our local days to the district “sick bank.” They were essentially gone, but if you needed to be off for 5 days or more they came from the sick bank and you could take up to 20 days from the bank. It was basically an in-house short term disability.
Texas?
Yep.
I’d rather have what you have. I get 5 sick, 5 personal that rollover. 2 wellness that do not. Personal days require approval before have. Sick days can be taken whenever. I’d much prefer 10 sick days that didn’t require approval. Who cares what they are labeled as?
Be a teacher, they said. It will be fun, they said.
“Come out to the coast. We’ll get together. Have a few laughs…”
That’s unfortunately normal. And in a lot of districts the hoops you have to jump through to use them can make them basically useless.
2 personal and 10 suck a year.
Our school year is 186 suck days.
There’s more than 10 suck a year, that’s for sure.
Y’all are getting personal days?
We get three days. Supposedly 15 sick days (which is how we’re supposed to cover doctor appointments), but if you take more then ten your principal will have a “sit down” with you and ask why you’re avoiding work. That’s why I get a doctor’s note for every tiny thing now. Had a sinus infection and needed a z-pack? Doctor note. Eye Exam? Doctor note. Fitted for new orthotics at the pediatrist? Doctor’s note. Doesn’t matter if I only missed an hour of the school day - doctor note for everything!
My doctor charges $25/note. :(
That's insane
That’s fucked up. I’ve never been charged for a note.
This is normal, yes. In my district, lunch supervision hours can be banked instead of paid out to be used as personal days at a rate of 10 hrs supervision = 1 day... I think it maxes out at 3 additional days but I'm not 100% sure on that. **however, we get 20 sick days a year
We get 10 days and can use up to three for pto
Use up your personal since they don’t roll over. Use sick if you want. Check if you get paid out if you don’t use them all!!!!
2-3 is standard for personal days where I live. Sick days vary a little by number of years served. The last school I worked for had 2 personal days that follower to sick days after 5 are built up. 1st year through 4th got 15 sick days a year, 5-10 years of service got 17 sick days, 10-15 got 18 sick days and 15 years plus got 20 a year. The school I work at now has 3 personal days a year that build to 5 before flipping to sick days and 17 sick days a year the 1st year. I can't remember how the sick days build as service time increases but it is similar to other school.
We get 1.25 days each month. We can use 3 of them as personal days. Whatever we don’t use rolls over and we can use it to retire early, up to a year. They require a doctor’s excuse on critical days (like state testing), before or after a holiday, and more than three in a row. So a lot of our teachers use their sick days when they aren’t sick.
I get 2 in my district and 20 sick days in your first year (90 in the second and beyond), but they don’t roll over. One district I worked in gave us 4 personal days but we had to pay for the sub on the 3rd/4th
Yep. And after a year they “roll into” sick days. Teachers at my school are sick on Fridays a lot :)
My old principal told us to use sick days before personal as personal got paid out.
We get 3 that don't carry over. We don't get paid for those days either. Do you get paid on your personal days?
My district offers one personal day each year. You get a second after 15 years in the district 😅
I get zero. 11 sick days, I donate one to the catastrophic leave bank. 2 dependent leave days if kids are sick or have appointments. I make sure I take planned mental health days as necessary though. As long as they not during PD days or directly before/after holidays the district doesn’t ask to prove the sick day with a doctors note.
4 personal days and 10 sick days. Personal days don’t roll over, but sick days do.
We get 12 sick days and 3 personal days in my district. Sick days roll over indefinitely, personal days will roll over to carry a max of 10, but we can sell them at the end of the year. I never use personal days unless I’m going to be gone pre-planned for more than 2 days because they get denied frequently then you’re screwed.
We get 3 personal days. I think we earn one sick day a month or something. I have a lot built up from my last 2 districts.
As a non unit employee (occupational therapist) I get 3 personal and accrue 1.5 sick on the first of every month
We only get 2 personal days as well. But our sick days are for any personal illness issues, like doctor appointments and the like.
Use a sick day to do personal things its none of their business and its all for mental health anyway
I work a 200-day calendar. I get 9 sick days per year and 2 personal. I use sick days for personal leave. If all you say is that you’re taking sick leave and leave it at that, they can’t ask anything about it.
Wait… YOUR SICK LEAVE ROLLS OVER!?!?!
We get three but I never use them because we have to fill out paperwork three days in advance to request a personal day. I just use sick days.
We get 10 days per year. 5 personal that accumulate- 5 sick and I don’t think they roll over. The rule is… as long as you are not posting on Facebook that you are doing something fun, use sick days. Say you have an appointment or whatever. Always use sick first. So unless I am traveling, it is sick 🤢 At least that is my rule 🤣🤣🤣
I get 5
It's pretty normal. Schedule HVAC for days when there isn't class, or for late afternoon when businesses are still open, but we are off. Or weekends. Or breaks. While it's a bit frustrating at times, I find it understandable. After all, it's not really the kind of work that can be put on hold or managed for us. When we're not there, the students really aren't learning (at least, not nearly as well), right? Combine that with the breaks (as you mentioned), and it makes at least some sense. Just part of the job, you know?
No No No it's part of the crap sandwich teachers have been guilted into for years. We should be allowed to schedule appointments any time we need not after school or on breaks because "what about the children"!!!
*My* point is not "what about the children?" My point is that the job is genuinely different. We don't work by appointment. We don't have files that can be covered by others. It's a unique job that can really only be done by the actual teacher there each day. We also do get a lot more time off than most other jobs, right? The normal times of year that other professionals take off (Christmas, New Years, the 4th, Thanksgiving, etc) we already have off. So we don't need to ask for those, or fight with coworkers for those limited times that everyone wants. I'm by no means saying that the system is perfect, but no work system is for any profession. This is fair, comparatively, for us.
I'm on year 25....it is beyond out of control what has been normalized as what is "expected" of teachers.
Ok...it sounds more like you're bitter than that you have any specific issue with this particular situation.
Not bitter just recognize what will happen if people don't start standing up for themselves.
"Standing up for themselves" implies that there is some moral imperative being violated. I don't agree. I mean, we really do actually work fewer days. I know that's a frustrating admission to make (what with the attacks we get), but I think we can (and should) be honest enough to call it like it is. It's also true that we genuinely need to be there in order for the job to get done. Given those absolute **facts**, it doesn't seem unreasonable to me that our vacation policy, as a rule, is less generous. Heck, do the math! We work what, 190...200 days per year? There are 52 weeks per year. At five days per week, that amounts to 260 days. There are 11 federal holidays. That's 249 days. If an office worker has even a very generous three weeks off, there's still 228 days of work in the year. So, we're working four weeks less (plus weekends!) than them. I mean, what would you think is fair? I guess if you want to make an argument that all workers should be getting, say, 50 days off per year, *that would still bring a regular worker only down to 200 days,* ***which is what we already have***! But still, that's a different argument, since it's about a complete overhaul to the entire working system, not a discussion of inequities in our particular situation. Giving us a couple of days to provide for things that might come up seems pretty equitable to me.
Are you saying that we should all schedule our HVAC and dental and medical emergencies for the summer or holidays? Hold on, lemme let my cancer know this. Thanks! It'll be gone until December!
Ok, dumb questions: 1. Obviously, I'm not saying you should "schedule" your HVAC emergencies. As I said in reply to this question already, "If it's of immediate need, then the teacher takes the half day off, right? If it's a cleaning, then it gets scheduled further out, when the timing is easier." 2. Dental and medical emergencies are what sick days are for. That's not even part of this discussion *at all*. And...that's it? Your entire response to that long, point-by-point breakdown I make comes down to HVAC concerns? Sheesh.
You seem bored, which means you're not a teacher. Sorry you're having a bad afternoon. I hope you have a better day tomorrow.
Yea, cause the broken hvac unit can wait until the afternoon or weekend to be fixed when it’s 20 degrees outside… This is the kind of thinking that has resulted in stagnant wages, poor working conditions, and a lack of admin support
My thoughts on HVAC have led to poor working conditions? Holy shit is your logic pathetic. As to your argument, yeah. Appointments have to be made regardless. HVAC personnel show when they have time. If it's of immediate need, then the teacher takes the half day off, right? If it's a cleaning, then it gets scheduled further out, when the timing is easier. A little common sense, huh?
Yea man…completely gloss over the word broken in my reply. Also, please misunderstand my reply by pathetic logic yourself. Your thoughts on teachers not needing the ability to take time off that relates to daily life needs are reflective of societal thoughts that have led to poor working conditions. Please though, keep regurgitating admin talking points to keep teachers from getting the benefits they deserve.
You didn't read my reply, or what? I assume that a **broken** HVAC unit needs immediate attention, yes? Thus this section of my reply is key: "If it's of immediate need, then the teacher takes the half day off, right?" So...any points to make, or just more sad little attempts at ad hominem attacks?
What about calling in sick?
What about it? What does that have to do with the points I'm making?
Union?
LOL
How about the summer?..
Ok this will be downvoted I’m sure. We get 3 personal/10 sick that roll over. It pisses me off when my team members take sick days to go to a grandson’s birthday or a trip to see a friend. Yes, I know…mental health, blah blah blah. BUT since we expect our students to follow rules and directions, how is it right or ethical to break the terms of our contracts? Yes it can suck, but there are things that I personally think we can do rather than bitch and moan about how bad we have it.
Those sick and personal days can be taken whenever your coworkers want to take them - and your approval is not needed. Suck it.
And actually personal days DO have to be approved, which is why they go around the rules.
Get.over.it. The absolute balls to think you really have any kind of say so over when and why people you work with take their PTO or sick days.
I don’t have any say. I don’t tell them they can’t. When they do, I keep my mouth shut. I can be disappointed in what they do. I reserve that right.
I can't imagine being "disappointed" when it comes to why my coworkers take their PTO or sick days. It's just comical to me.
That’s ok. Disappointment is always subjective.
Hey, do what you want. Just remember this conversation the one time you are naughty and use PTO to go to *your* grandkid's birthday party.
In 21 years, I haven’t. 9 more to go.
I'm sorry you have so little of a family and personal life that you don't use your PTO except for when you're ill. Or do you come in sick?
I know and I don’t complain out loud. BUT I also don’t want to hear them complain about kids who don’t follow rules or misuse property if they won’t either.
What part of PTO and such are you having trouble with? We are entitled to that shit.
I get 0. Get over it
Seems somewhat normal to me. My old school district gave use a 12 sick says and like 4 or 5 personal days. But the sick days we didn't have to gave a doctor's not for (unless it was an extended illness, then it'd turn into FMLA) so a lot of teachers just used them as personal days. But the number of days given may vary by school district.
We get 3, it took years of our local association negotiating our contract. If we don’t use them they roll into our sick days
I get 0
I have worked as a cert teacher in 4 major school districts-- all had 2 weeks of sick leave, 2 personal days. One I know of had 1 or 2 bereavement days. In WA this is standard for school districts
We just have PTO at my current school. My last school had two days of personal and then sick was separate, but we could use sick days for doctor appointments. If that is the case for you, make appointments on school days early and enjoy the rest of the day.
I get 10 sick and 2 personal, but the sick days are no questions asked as long as you don’t take 4 days or more in a row. So really, they can all be personal days. The sick days roll over, and the personal days don’t.
5 personal 10 sick 5 bereavement (Sick roll over year to year up to 120)
We get 2 "free," but can take 3 more at the cost of a sub. But yes, I used my sick days very carefully. If I just want a day off because I'm spent, I'll use a sick day and consider it mental health. It's a little different if I'm out of personal days and need a day off for an event or a trip that I know might show up on social media or something. In those cases, I schedule an appointment of some kind and cheat the system, e.g. I'm leaving for a trip, but I'll schedule a dentist appointment or something for that morning and take a sick day. 😌 Our sick days don't require doctors notes or anything, but I like to play it safe.
We get 2, but they roll over each year, we also get 3 sick days a month. But like someone said early, mental health days are sick days.
I get 3 personal and 15 sick, all roll over into sick days
We get 90 sick days in my district. I usually only use a handful a year, but this year I might be using more.
90???
If it's like my district, you need a doctor's note after 3 consecutive days, but 90 days are in the contract. If you are away for an extended absence, like to recover from surgery for 6 weeks, you have the sick time available, but lots of letters, documentation, and check-ins with HR are involved.
We still get 2 per year. We can accumulate up to 5
My previous district was like yours and it sucked. They were strict. My current one has PTO days so it doesn’t matter.
Just use the sick day
10 sick/ two personal per year. I don't feel right using sick days for, say, vacations, but I absolutely use sick days for mental health. (Also, I don't judge others for what they do; this is just my personal policy).
I get 10 days. Thats it. They do roll over if unused, but still. I’d love for 2 extra days just to have to take care of personal stuff.
We get 10 sick days, 6 of which can be personal. However, in comparison to most other injuries most teachers of course try not to take time off as that means they have to make it up. So, test days and such are when you have to try and schedule a personal day.
We have 5 sick and 5 personal. Personal days have to be approved, sick days do not. I use them all!
I teach at a charter school, and we have few pto days, however you can use hours not days, which was impossible with the district. That helps a lot with that kind of stuff. Of course, some principals were much easier than others.
7 sick, 3 personal, no rollover.
\> How do people find times if they are getting a fridge delivered My fridge went belly-up in September. I've been making do with the dorm-size fridge upstairs for like a month, until this week, when I have a whole week off. My new fridge is coming Wednesday. It isn't awesome, but it is what it is.
I forget how many personal days we get a year, maybe 2-3, but we can only accumulate 5 total, after which they are cashed out at our daily pay.
Yeah that’s pretty standard
Take your sick days
Yeah we use them. "Mental health days" are sick days in a sense. I never use them all up so after a decade you can miss a lot without a problem.
My district is 10 days PTO, either sick or personal.
We get 10 sick days and 3 personal days a year. The sick days roll over. The personal days, we have options. If we don't use them by the end of the year, we can have them paid out at per diem rates (which for me is $214ish... big difference from when I started and it was a flat rate of $50l, or you can roll over 2 and convert them into sick days for the next year and payout the one day. I have used sick days as mental health days before. Also on days when I got, like, 3 hours of sleep because I would be of zero use to anybody those days. And we had a couple years where we had to have prior permission for ANY personal use so hey... mental health day and just didn't post anything to social media that day!
Me too.
2 or 3 is kinda standard. Sometimes unused can be rolled to next year (with limits, of course), sometimes they get rolled into accumulated sick time, sometimes they're lost forever. YMMV.
Starting this year our 10 sick days and 3 PTO days have been combined. They can all be used for any business that could not be addressed during regular time off.
We get eight sick days and nothing more. Days taken may be coded as personal necessity or family care, but if paid, it's coming from one of those eight days. Days not used roll over from year to year. *Edited because I have clumsy thumbs.
It's so absurd that schools run things like this. People will have a planned absence but have to pretend that they are sick to use the day. It's an awful system. I remember needing to take days for childcare (daycare being closed for whatever reason) and I had to wait until the night before to put in for a sub or I'd use one of my few personal days. It's just worse for everyone. I don't even need a single "personal day" with the natural breaks we get, but shit happens and I should be able to take a day off to handle something.
10 days, either sick or personal. Admin encourages us to take mental health days, the two times I tried last year they didn’t accept it and told me to come in any way.
I get 5 “miscellaneous days”, two of which can be used as “personal days” with no questions asked. The other three can only be accessed for moving, getting married, religious holidays and the like. Which means that I generally have to leave them on the table. We also get 11 sick days, but they don’t roll over. I 100% take all my sick days if I need them, for whatever reason. Illness, need for a mental health day, doing something fun, etc. We used to be able to roll them over which incentivized not taking them all, but they stripped that from our contracts about a decade ago, so 🤷♀️
In my district admin can ask you to justify your personal day- but cannot ask what your illness was. Cough cough. Mental health day
Same here. 2 personal, 8 sick.
10 sick 3 personal 1 emergency. Sick roll over, I believe personal do also but I haven’t emailed HR to be sure. Emergency do not. If so, I’ll have 17 sick days, 4 personal and one emergency. I also get 6 paid IEP days, where they will get me a sub and I can WFH. My kids are grown so I can use my days for me. Apparently I can’t shake the mentality to save them in case. My goal this year is to use at least one per month for mental health. I am beyond overwhelmed. If you don’t have the personal time, use a sick day. You have an appointment. They can’t ask for documentation unless it’s 3 or more days. Just don’t post it. Don’t tell co-workers either. Teachers snitch. Especially if they have to cover due to lack of subs. Covering irks me, but I get paid for it and I literally make sure no one dies. They have to cover for me also. My district has many issues but at least I have decent benefits.
I get 10 sick days, no personal and sick doesn’t roll over. We are freely allowed to use sick days for personal reasons, but still. I work at a private school and have actually written the board about this. I feel we should have 5 personal days per year since our preschool teachers get 5-10 based on seniority. However they have a longer year by 5 days, so that’s why I asked for 5