By Steve Gunn
EAGnews.org

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. – The headline of the news report was certainly promising: “Bridgeport Ed Board tackles teacher absences.”

We figured that meant school officials in Bridgeport, Connecticut might be serious about addressing a significant problem that causes academic distress for K-12 students and financial stress for school budgets.

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But two paragraphs into the story, the ugly truth bubbled to the top. Bridgeport’s state-appointed school board is willing to shake a finger at teachers who miss too much time, but there’s no threat of serious consequences.

“The policy doesn’t alter the teacher contract that since 1967 has allowed city teachers up to 15 paid sick days each school year,” the story said.

So what exactly is the point of taking any action at all?

The teacher absentee problem came to light in Bridgeport following the release of a report that said nearly 85 percent of the district’s 1,146 classroom teachers were absent at least 10 times in the 2009-10 school year, according to a NewsTimes.com report.

The union contract allows them 15 paid sick days per year, and they are only averaging 10. Some would say they are practicing a high degree of self-restraint, given the circumstances.

The school board should realize one basic fact: human beings will take as much rope as you give them.  If the union contract invites them to be absent nearly 10 percent of a 180-day work year (that’s about the average length of a teacher’s work year in the U.S.), nobody should be surprised when they come close to hitting that benchmark.

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The school board should demand that the contract language be altered, so teachers missing excessive days will also be missing dollars in their paychecks. Instead, it has devised a tepid new policy, with the assistance of the union, to mildly address the problem.

“Under the policy, teachers have to report unscheduled absences through an online time and attendance system at least 30 minutes before the start of school,” the news article says. “Warnings could be issued to teachers who have six or more unscheduled absences during a school year or have absences that consistently fall on Fridays, Mondays or adjacent to holidays.”

We can almost hear the laughter in teacher’s lounges throughout the Bridgeport district. The school board wasted its time and citizen’s tax dollars putting together this limp policy.

A more serious response was clearly in order.According to research, American K-12 teachers average 9-10 absences per year. That means between kindergarten and 12th grade, students are taught by someone other than the regularly assigned teacher for about two-thirds of a school year.

Students suffer as a result. For instance, every 10 teacher absences lowers mathematic achievement by the same amount as having a teacher with one or two years of experience rather than one with three to five years of experience, according to Raegen Miller, a leading national expert on the topic.

Taxpayers also suffer. American public schools are forced to collectively spend about $4 billion per year on substitutes to cover for absent staff, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.

So it’s good that Bridgeport’s school board recognized this serious issue. It’s just a shame that they lacked the courage to face down the union and take meaningful steps to address it.