Principal Judy Puglisi budgets for full-time teaching interns to fill in for Metropolitan Business Academy teachers who have to take off from work due to illness or family emergency.
Puglisi recommended a districtwide investment in full-time interns, as officials work to develop policies to boost teacher attendance and increase the quality and number of available substitutes filling in for absent teaching staff.
Though average teacher attendance rates are high, about 100 teachers in the system have missed enough days — about 9 — to be considered “chronically absent,” leading to increased focus on accurately tracking that data and supporting those who need extra help.
The effort is part of the district’s “Attendance Matters” campaign to reduce students’ chronic absence, especially for those in the younger grades, by targeting non-academic factors that might regularly prevent them from going to school.
Teachers’ absences from the classroom can negatively affect student learning, said Michael Crocco, director of the talent office.
His office sent out a letter to all teachers and administrators this month reminding them of the importance of attending school every day and explaining new policies to track absence rates at all schools. The letter asked teachers to report all of their absences using an online system called “AESOP,” to which principals have school-level access and district officials have central access.
“After January 1, administrators will be provided with accurate teacher attendance data on a regular basis as well as the means for principals to access this information on their own. When leaders recognize patterns in attendance behaviors, they will be addressing those in a respectful and supportive manner, while making certain legitimate attendance situations and extenuating circumstances are filtered out,” the letter reads.
Click here to read the full text of the letter.
Aliyya Swaby Photo
Puglisi: More back-up needed.
In the first half of the year, the average teacher attendance rate was 95 percent. But about 100 teachers are “chronically absent,” meaning their attendance rate is below 90 percent — as measured for students.
Jason Bartlett, mayoral liaison to the Board of Education, said it is fair to look at teacher attendance “just like we look at student attendance.” Though chronic absence for students is measured at 10 percent, he said, it should be 5 percent for teachers. “We rely on our teachers so much.”
At the request of the Independent, the district provided a breakdown of teacher attendance data for eight K‑8 and high schools between Aug. 31, 2015 and Jan. 7, 2016. The chart above shows that most classroom teachers at each school have reported at least one absence. Seven of the eight schools have attendance rates above the 95 percent average, except for Career High School, which has a 94.2 percent attendance rate.
In New Haven Public Schools, teachers’ contracts give them up to 15 sick days per year, which can be accumulated over time, said Dave Cicarella, president of the teachers union. “But that doesn’t mean I’m going to take my 15 days,” he said. Some dealing with chronic or serious illness might need more days; others might need many fewer.
When Cicarella stopped teaching after 28 years, he had accumulated more than 215 sick days and gave back more than 100. “God gave me pretty good health. When I was sick, I certainly took the sick day. Most teachers operate with that level of integrity,” he said.
Explanations Required
The January letter from the district established a policy asking administrators to call in teachers with high numbers of absences to discuss the reasons.
“The first conversations are to determine if there are illnesses or extenuating circumstances in which the Principal or HR can help to support a teacher and the students,” the letter reads. “If there are no extenuating circumstances then principals may be monitoring attendance, having follow up conversations with the teacher, and ultimately involve HR if absences do not improve.”
Some teachers resented the reminder, Cicarella said. “They’re still feeling like there’s no problem with 95 percent of the teachers. ‘Why is everyone getting a blast from HR?’” he said. “I didn’t read the letter that way. But people are feeling lumped together.”
Others worried that some administrators would be “punitive” about the way they approached teachers who had been absent, by yelling or issuing a disciplinary memo, said Cicarella, who was on the attendance committee that helped form the new policies.
Crocco said the purpose of the policy is two-pronged: to ensure schools are “being supportive” and to “hold teachers accountable” for their actions. As shown in the above chart, teachers’ absences are generally higher on Mondays and Fridays, which extend their weekends — a potential red flag for unnecessary absences. “We want them to have a conversation” with administrators, Crocco said.
Principal Puglisi said she does not think teachers are abusing their sick days, even when they are absent on Mondays and Fridays.
“Strong teachers are coming to work sick all the time,” she said. “By Friday, they can’t take anymore” and call in sick. Or they hold out through the week and succumb to illness during the weekend, needing to call in sick on Sunday. “I don’t believe Monday or Friday are indicative of abuse at all,” she said. This year, one Metro teacher is on maternity leave, and another teacher has had back surgery.
But she agreed more support is needed when teachers do need to take a day off. Until this year, she has budgeted for full-time teaching interns to shadow teachers during the year and fill in for them when they are out sick.
“They get to know the students and are seen as another teacher in the room,” Puglisi said. “You lose less instruction when that’s built in.” Each intern costs about $15,000 per year, costly, but worth the money, she said.
As universities cut their teacher preparation programs, the pool of students available for intern positions shrinks, making it harder to get them in the classrooms, she said.
Part of keeping teachers in schools is supporting their daily mental health, she said. Two staff members, working as student support facilitators funded through the federal Teacher Incentive Fund, focus on “teacher morale,” organizing ice skating parties, free massages three times a year, staff parties and biometric screenings for staff.
Metro has only one teacher who is chronically absent, missing about 9 of 82 days, of 35 teachers who have registered any absence and of 40 total classroom teachers.
Substitute Quality Targeted
The district is also working on improving the quality of substitute teachers who fill in for absent teachers.
Substitute teachers can choose which schools they work at, with the options of taking part-time or multi-day assignments. They receive a daily rate of pay, which increases when they work in the same classroom for a period of time, Crocco said.
District officials have discussed instituting “two different rates” of pay, with a higher rate to “incentivize substitutes to choose schools that may have a harder time getting subs,” he said. There is no central policy for how schools should compensate for not having needed substitute teachers but “a number of teachers use paraprofessionals.”
Paraprofessionals are currently in contract negotiations, Crocco said.
Cicarella said the district is not prioritizing improving substitutes as much as it should be, instead focusing on reducing teacher attendance. New Haven Public Schools has the lowest pay in the region for substitute teachers — at $62.40 per day, compared to $70 to $82 in other districts.
Certified substitute teachers with bachelor’s degrees receive $98.75 per day after working 60 days in New Haven, and $120 after working an additional 30 days. Hamden pays long-term substitutes about $100 per day, and Branford about $150 per day, he said.
“What I’m getting from central office … is that we need to see why people are out. At the same time, we’ve got to attract subs. We’re not going to do it at roughly $60 a day,” he said. “We got to stop this notion that raising the pay won’t make a difference. We don’t have enough substitutes. Every single day, schools go without substitutes.”
Clinton Avenue School Principal Ana Rodriguez said she has stepped in as a teacher when no substitutes sign up for her school. Most of the time paraprofessionals and support staff move their schedules to fill in for absent teachers, she said.
“We pull in everybody,” she said. “The safety of our children and smooth operation of the building is primary. Even if I have to go in, which I usually do…I’ll teach any class.” Since the beginning of the year, support staff has had to fill in about five times. Substitutes come to the school about three to four times per week.
Some substitutes fill in regularly at Clinton Avenue. This year, the school has had two women on maternity leave for 15 weeks each. Not including those teachers, one teacher is considered “chronically absent” at the school, of 45 teachers who have registered any absence, and of 50 classroom teachers total.
“Attendance plays a major role in the education of our children,” Rodriguez said. “If you have one teacher absent, that’s 25 students that if you don’t get a good substitute, it impacts the school day and the school environment.”