MISSED DAYS BY TEACHERS CALLED LOW
Miami Herald, The (FL) - Tuesday, January 4, 2000
Author: ANALISA NAZARENO, anazareno@herald.com
A Miami-Dade Public Schools analysis of teacher absenteeism shows that teachers were absent an average of 13 days each from the classroom last school year, with sickness and teacher training or temporary duty as the greatest reasons.
Teachers are given six personal days and can miss up to 10 days of work for sick days and personal reasons during the 10-month work year. Teachers also have seven days off for holidays and three weeks off for winter and spring breaks.
According to the district analysis, teachers missed, on average, 4.9 days for sickness and 4.9 days for temporary duty.
A Herald analysis of teacher absenteeism in November, which showed an average of 18 days absent, prompted the school district's study. The Herald analysis included summer school days while the district analysis included days missed during the regular 180-day school year.
``That's very important because we have anomalies [in the absence data] for summer school,'' said Carol Cortes, the deputy superintendent for management and accountability for the school system. ``We have some schools that are closed during the summer, some schools that are open.''
The district's analysis varied greatly from The Herald analysis. The differences stemmed largely from The Herald's inclusion of summer school days.
For example, The Herald analysis showed Lillie C. Evans Elementary had the highest average of teacher absences of all 313 schools in the system, with an average of 45 days.
The district analysis, however, showed Evans ranked 16th for the most average days absent - 16.9 days per teacher.
The school system analysis showed Southside Elementary as having the highest average of teacher days absent, with 23.7 days - 13.9 of those days were for temporary duty, which may include teacher training.
Cortes said a complicated means of marking teacher workdays during the summer may have contributed to the variation in numbers between The Herald and the school district analysis.
During the summer, teachers who attend training sessions may be marked as absent from the classroom, but working on temporary duty. So some of the teachers may show additional days absent, when, in fact, those particular teachers were working additional days.
The difference was not just because of the summer absences and days marked absent during summer training, said Gisela F. Feild, the school system's director for data management. It was also because the data that The Herald purchased from the school system was not the correct data for this type of analysis, she said.
The data The Herald received showed employee absences, but did not account for the fact that employees may move from school to school during the year, especially if they have asked to work during summer school.
A teacher may transfer to another school during the year, or may work at a school other than his or her regular school during the summer, but the absence would appear only on the last school where the teacher taught, giving that one school a skewed number of days absent.
``If you would have called me, I would have looked at this as an analyst and said, `No, this isn't the correct data set,' '' Feild said.
The Herald reporter working on the story did, in fact, ask the school system's spokesman, Deputy Superintendent Henry Fraind, in writing, for access to the school district's data analysts, but was denied access.
And Feild said that she would not have been able to speak freely to The Herald reporter without Fraind's approval.
The Herald reporter also set up two in-person interviews with Fraind to discuss the data, but both meetings were canceled, and he opted for a telephone interview.
Fraind said ``extenuating circumstances'' caused him to cancel those meetings.
Cortes said her staff did the study because The Herald study prompted concern and discussion.
``Teachers looked at this and were demoralized,'' Cortes said. ``There are many hard-working, dedicated teachers in the school system.''
Herald editors said the paper's original report reflected the information the school district had made available.
``We were relying on the district for information for this story,'' said Herald Managing Editor Larry Olmstead. ``We are glad the district has now taken the time to revise its information, and we are happy to report the new numbers.''
The district's study showed the New World School of the Arts and Jose Marti Middle School as the schools with the fewest absences on average for teachers - nine days. At Jose Marti, sick days made up the majority of teacher days absent. At New World, the reasons were largely for teacher training.
``We have tried to do as much as we can to try to minimize the days outside of the classroom, because it can be disruptive,'' Cortes said. ``Over the years, we have done training days during the intercessions. We've tried to do Saturday training. But we can't train all the teachers like this.''
DATA FOR ALL SCHOOLS
The school district's analysis of teacher absenteeism at all schools is listed at www.herald.com
Teachers are given six personal days and can miss up to 10 days of work for sick days and personal reasons during the 10-month work year. Teachers also have seven days off for holidays and three weeks off for winter and spring breaks.
According to the district analysis, teachers missed, on average, 4.9 days for sickness and 4.9 days for temporary duty.
A Herald analysis of teacher absenteeism in November, which showed an average of 18 days absent, prompted the school district's study. The Herald analysis included summer school days while the district analysis included days missed during the regular 180-day school year.
``That's very important because we have anomalies [in the absence data] for summer school,'' said Carol Cortes, the deputy superintendent for management and accountability for the school system. ``We have some schools that are closed during the summer, some schools that are open.''
The district's analysis varied greatly from The Herald analysis. The differences stemmed largely from The Herald's inclusion of summer school days.
For example, The Herald analysis showed Lillie C. Evans Elementary had the highest average of teacher absences of all 313 schools in the system, with an average of 45 days.
The district analysis, however, showed Evans ranked 16th for the most average days absent - 16.9 days per teacher.
The school system analysis showed Southside Elementary as having the highest average of teacher days absent, with 23.7 days - 13.9 of those days were for temporary duty, which may include teacher training.
Cortes said a complicated means of marking teacher workdays during the summer may have contributed to the variation in numbers between The Herald and the school district analysis.
During the summer, teachers who attend training sessions may be marked as absent from the classroom, but working on temporary duty. So some of the teachers may show additional days absent, when, in fact, those particular teachers were working additional days.
The difference was not just because of the summer absences and days marked absent during summer training, said Gisela F. Feild, the school system's director for data management. It was also because the data that The Herald purchased from the school system was not the correct data for this type of analysis, she said.
The data The Herald received showed employee absences, but did not account for the fact that employees may move from school to school during the year, especially if they have asked to work during summer school.
A teacher may transfer to another school during the year, or may work at a school other than his or her regular school during the summer, but the absence would appear only on the last school where the teacher taught, giving that one school a skewed number of days absent.
``If you would have called me, I would have looked at this as an analyst and said, `No, this isn't the correct data set,' '' Feild said.
The Herald reporter working on the story did, in fact, ask the school system's spokesman, Deputy Superintendent Henry Fraind, in writing, for access to the school district's data analysts, but was denied access.
And Feild said that she would not have been able to speak freely to The Herald reporter without Fraind's approval.
The Herald reporter also set up two in-person interviews with Fraind to discuss the data, but both meetings were canceled, and he opted for a telephone interview.
Fraind said ``extenuating circumstances'' caused him to cancel those meetings.
Cortes said her staff did the study because The Herald study prompted concern and discussion.
``Teachers looked at this and were demoralized,'' Cortes said. ``There are many hard-working, dedicated teachers in the school system.''
Herald editors said the paper's original report reflected the information the school district had made available.
``We were relying on the district for information for this story,'' said Herald Managing Editor Larry Olmstead. ``We are glad the district has now taken the time to revise its information, and we are happy to report the new numbers.''
The district's study showed the New World School of the Arts and Jose Marti Middle School as the schools with the fewest absences on average for teachers - nine days. At Jose Marti, sick days made up the majority of teacher days absent. At New World, the reasons were largely for teacher training.
``We have tried to do as much as we can to try to minimize the days outside of the classroom, because it can be disruptive,'' Cortes said. ``Over the years, we have done training days during the intercessions. We've tried to do Saturday training. But we can't train all the teachers like this.''
DATA FOR ALL SCHOOLS
The school district's analysis of teacher absenteeism at all schools is listed at www.herald.com
Memo: see DATA FOR ALL SCHOOLS at end, also see Teacher Absence Rates
Edition: Final
Section: Local
Page: 1B
Index Terms: MIAMI DADE SCHOOL TEACHER
Record Number: 0001060096
Copyright (c) 2000 The Miami Herald
Section: Local
Page: 1B
Index Terms: MIAMI DADE SCHOOL TEACHER
Record Number: 0001060096
Copyright (c) 2000 The Miami Herald
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