Effectively Managing Teacher Absenteeism

2. Effectively Managing Teacher Absenteeism Linking Human Capital Management and Instructional Leadership

3. Outcomes for Today Understand the research on teacher absenteeism and how it impacts student achievement. Discuss effective ways to manage short and long term absenteeism in their buildings and reduce overall absenteeism. Understand Family and Medical Leave and the implications of the American Disabilities Act Consider ways to use their school leadership teams and HR Department for support.

4. Agenda for Today

5. Warm Up – Activating Your Pre-Work Step 1: Assess: How big of an issue is teacher absenteeism in your school? • Red: Major Issue • Yellow: Somewhat of an Issue • Green: Not an Issue Step 2: With a Partner Discuss: • Why you assessed this way… • How the data informs you… • What is the impact on your school…

6. Whole Group Discussion Any trends? What is the impact on our schools? How did the data help us? How might you continue to use the Absence Management Dashboard with your leadership team?

7. What does the research tell us? *Teacher Absence as Leading Indicator of Student Achievement, Center for American Progress, Nov. 2012. http://www.nctq.org/dmsView/RollCall_TeacherAttendance **Roll Call: The importance of teacher attendance, National Council for Teacher Quality, 2014. ***Tales of Teacher Absence: New Research Yields Patterns that Speak to Policymakers, Center for American Progress, 2008. Teachers average rate of absence (5.3%) is higher than national rate for full-time workers (3%), despite working a shorter calendar year. This translates to ~ 10 days a year.* Teachers are absent from traditional public schools more than 10 times per year at a rate that is 15.2 percentage points higher than in charter schools.* When teachers are absent 10 days, the decrease in student achievement is equivalent to the difference between having a brand new teacher and one with 2 or 3 years experience or more. ** 56% of all teacher absences are discretionary, suggesting they have some control over when and if they take off work. Most teachers are absent Mondays and Fridays. ***

8. Shelby County Expectations • Shelby County Schools’ expectation is that all employees be present 95% of their work year, which equates to missing no more than 9.5 days for teachers. • Tools to support you: • Revised SCS Board Approved Policy – September • Published set of SCS Rules and Regulations – September • SCS Guide for managers – September • Upgraded dashboard • Red, yellow, green indicator for 5% absence • Absence by teacher by reason • Aggregate absence picture for teacher or school

9. SCS - The Big Picture: • On average, employees were present 95% of contracted days, missing an average of 10 days each year. • In 2016 and 2017, long-term substitute teachers taught an average of 3.6% of SCS students for an average of 67 days. • In 2017, 1% of students were assigned to teachers who taught outside their areas of certification.

10. Your Role as a Leader Strategies for Reducing Teacher Absences

11. Your Role as a Leader Managing Teacher Absences

12. Your Role as a Leader Trends to Look for… • Number, Frequency and Duration:Numerous and frequent short-term absences of one or two days duration for which sick leave is requested may suggest an attendance problem. • Patterns: A history of one, two, and three day “illnesses” or frequent “emergencies” which occur on the day before or after scheduled or approved days off or which precede or follow holidays may suggest an attendance problem. • Excessive Use of Unsupported Sick Leave:Any absence for which an employee has requested paid sick leave, regardless of the duration, that is not substantiated by a physician’s/practitioner’s statement verifying the legitimacy of the absence is unsupported sick leave. • Tardiness:It is an employee’s responsibility to be at work and ready to begin promptly at his or her starting time according to the work schedule established by the supervisor. Reminder: The Absence Management Dashboard is a resource to you!

13. Your Role as a Leader Tools You Can Use • Absence Management Dashboard • Guide to Attendance Management • HR Business Partner • Can help you use absence management dashboard • Can help you understand steps in progressive discipline and when to involve them • Can help you with other issues related to leave, including ADA, FMLA and other medical leaves

14. Employees’ Rights - Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) Eligible employees can take up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job protected leave in a 12 month period • Birth of a child or placement of a child for adoption or foster care • Bond with a child )leave must be taken within 1 year of the child’s birth or placement • Care for the employee’s spouse, child or parent who has a qualifying serious health condition • Employee’s own qualifying serious health condition that makes the employee unable to perform the employee’s job • Qualifying exigencies related to the foreign deployment of a military member who is the employee’s spouse, child or parent Upon return from leave, most employees must be restored to the same job or one nearly identical The employer may not interfere with FMLA rights or retaliate against someone for using FMLA leave Eligibility: • Have worked for the employer for at least 12 months • Have at least 1,250 hours of service in the 12 months before taking leave • Work at a location where the employer has at least 50 employees within 75 miles of the employee’s worksite Requesting Leave • Generally, employees should give 30-day advance notice, but if not possible, should inform the employer as soon as the employee can Seek assistance from Human Resources when an employee requests FMLA

15. Employee Rights - American Disabilities Act What is it? • The ADA is a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities in all areas of public life, including jobs, schools, transportation, and all public and private places that are open to the general public. Purpose • The purpose of the law is to make sure that people with disabilities have the same rights and opportunities as everyone else. Who Qualifies? An individual with a disability is a person who: • Has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities • Has a record of such an impairment What are reasonable accommodations? Reasonable accommodation may include, but is not limited to: • Making existing facilities used by employees readily accessible to and usable by persons with disabilities. • Job restructuring, modifying work schedules, reassignment to a vacant position; • Acquiring or modifying equipment or devices, adjusting or modifying examinations, training materials, or policies, and providing qualified readers or interpreters. Seek assistance from Human Resources when an employee requests reasonable accommodations

16. Questions

17. Putting it All Together Action Planning Based on my learnings today… • What is 1 strategy or learning I can take back to my school? • How will I know when I’ve achieved success? • What is the first thing I need to do? • What is 1 barrier I might encounter? How can I plan for it?

18. Try It Out Get feedback in groups of 3 – 15 mins each

19. Closing Summary and Feedback What worked well?/ Even better if… Burning Questions