While everyone talks about getting students to school every day,
teachers at San Benito High School are looking at a form of
attendance incentives for teachers.
The teachers union and district are currently negotiating their
contract. One area teachers would like to explore is offering
incentives for teachers who do not use all of their sick/personal
necessity days each year.
While everyone talks about getting students to school every day, teachers at San Benito High School are looking at a form of attendance incentives for teachers.
The teachers union and district are currently negotiating their contract. One area teachers would like to explore is offering incentives for teachers who do not use all of their sick/personal necessity days each year.
Teachers get 10 days for sick time with up to six of those available for personal necessity days. The unused sick days rollover each year, so teachers who aren’t sick very often build up a lot of sick days they never use, said Clete Bradford, SBHS math teacher and teachers union president.
“(Attendance incentives) just reward teachers that don’t miss school,” he said. “If we’re not using them, they’re saving the district money because we’re not using substitutes.”
SBHS pays substitutes $40 per block, or $120 a day.
“The bottom line is that more learning goes on when teachers are in the classrooms,” Bradford said.
Also, the district is experiencing a shortage in substitute teachers, so attendance incentives for teachers benefits the district, Bradford argued. Evelyn Muro, director of human resources, agreed there is a small number of substitutes to pull from.
“Substitute teaching is a transition from one position to another for many people,” Muro said. “Also, they can pick and chose which classes and which days to work.”
Teacher attendance is not a problem at SBHS, Bradford said, but an incentive is a way for teachers to share part of the money they save the district.
While the union is still negotiating with the district, an attendance incentive would allow teachers who have not used many of their sick days, like 70 percent, to earn a percentage of what the district would have paid a substitute that day, Bradford said. The idea is for teachers to receive the incentive money when they retire or leave the district.
Both negotiating teams have been discussing the incentive for a while and there is interest on both parts, Muro said.
Bradford agreed that teachers who don’t use many of their sick days would benefit the most from an attendance incentive program. Also, the program would give teachers who are sick, but could make it through the day an incentive to stick it out.
Other school districts in the state offer an attendance incentive program, though none in the area, Bradford said.
