Working in crowded school buildings during a pandemic has been anxiety-inducing for many educators. But for some school employees who have run out of paid leave, there鈥檚 a financial cost of getting sick, too.
Many of the nation鈥檚 more than 6 million K-12 workers came to rely early in the pandemic on the assurance that they could still get paid if they had to stay home while sick or exposed to COVID-19. Since federal requirements for employers to offer paid leave expired before this school year was underway, some school districts have taken up the mantle on their own, providing an extra five, 10, or even 20 days for COVID-related absences, according to media reports and interviews with district leaders.
But many districts nationwide鈥攊ncluding the in Wisconsin, the in Kansas, and the in California鈥攁re not currently offering paid leave separate from what their employees already receive in a typical year.
In effect, an unusually large number of teachers and other K-12 employees this year risk having their pay docked if they have to quarantine because they鈥檝e come down with COVID and don鈥檛 have any sick time left.
Districts are wary of shutting school buildings down for long periods of time due to political pressure and the urgency of providing academic support to students during an extended tumultuous period. They鈥檙e also facing a nationwide shortage of substitute teachers to cover for employees who have to be absent because they鈥檙e sick, quarantining at home, or taking care of loved ones.
鈥淓very day counts right now unfortunately because we are in such a staffing crunch,鈥� said Emily Warnecke, the spokeswoman for the Illinois Association of School Administrators, which is lobbying against a statewide measure currently before the governor that would mandate extra COVID leave for school district employees.
Yet many teachers and other school employees feel like the lack of COVID-specific sick days is adding insult to injury. This school year has already been exhausting and demoralizing. Teachers and other school workers have had to navigate severe staff shortages and the fear of contracting COVID-19 in classrooms as they work to address gaps in student learning and an influx of student trauma stemming from the pandemic.
Teachers said in interviews that receiving COVID sick days so they don鈥檛 have to use their own paid time off if they contract the virus would feel like an acknowledgment of the hard work they鈥檙e doing in an extraordinarily difficult time.
Denise Specht, the president of 91制片厂视频 Minnesota, that state鈥檚 teachers鈥� union, said some local unions have been able to negotiate the continuation of COVID leave during the collective bargaining process, but others have not.
鈥淚t is definitely adding to the anxiety and stress here in Minnesota and the uncertainty of what to do,鈥� she said, adding that in some districts, teachers can teach from home while quarantined, but that鈥檚 not an option everywhere. And that is only feasible if the educator is feeling well enough to work.
Typically, teachers get about a dozen sick and personal days a year, and can roll over their sick leave from year to year with no cap. But for new teachers who haven鈥檛 accumulated a bank of leave, a couple bouts of illness in the fall could have already drained their sick days for the year, leaving them with no reserves as cases surge across the country due to the hyper-contagious Omicron variant.
Employees who are new parents are in a challenging position, too, since many exhaust their sick leave to take time off upon the birth or adoption of a child. Parents of school-aged children might have had to use some of their sick time if their child was exposed to or testing positive for COVID. And some teachers already used a large portion of sick leave with a positive COVID-19 case in the fall, yet it鈥檚 possible to be infected with the virus more than once.
Leah Gimbel, a high school math teacher in Washington, D.C., contracted COVID-19 in September and had to use a chunk of her own sick leave for the year. She typically uses her personal days on Jewish holidays, so she only has a few days left this year鈥攎eaning if she gets the Omicron variant and can鈥檛 teach remotely, she鈥檇 likely have to take unpaid time off.
鈥淚t鈥檚 frustrating and upsetting,鈥� she said. 鈥淚鈥檓 there in the building every day, getting exposed not infrequently.鈥�
Educators are told by health officials to stay home if they鈥檙e not feeling well, but without comprehensive sick day policies, that鈥檚 easier said than done, Specht said.
鈥淲e all need to do that, 鈥� but that only works when you鈥檝e got the leave,鈥� Specht said, adding that some of schools鈥� lowest-wage workers, like bus drivers and custodians, may live paycheck to paycheck. 鈥淚t puts your family and your family budget in jeopardy. You think, 鈥業t鈥檚 my responsibility to stay home when I鈥檓 sick, but I also have to pay the rent, I have to pay my family鈥檚 insurance鈥欌�攊t doesn鈥檛 feel like a winnable situation.鈥�
Paid leave policies differ across the country
Policies among districts that are offering paid leave vary considerably, according to interviews, an 91制片厂视频 Week analysis of numerous districts鈥� paid leave policies, and the National Council on Teacher Quality鈥檚 . Some are contingent on employees being vaccinated; some only extend leave to employees who show proof that they tested positive for COVID; some require an employee鈥檚 COVID case to have been a result of exposure at a school building. Some newly enacted policies don鈥檛 apply retroactively to the start of the school year, or don鈥檛 allow employees to hold on to COVID-specific days they don鈥檛 use after the school year ends.
America lacks a federal requirement for employers to offer paid leave of any kind. Starting in March 2020, Congress authorized a nationwide requirement for many employers, including school districts, to offer paid leave for employees dealing with COVID.
That policy expired as 2021 began. From April to September 2021, school districts and other employers were in exchange for voluntarily offering COVID-specific paid leave. That policy, too, is no longer in effect.
In addition, 鈥渆ven if folks do have COVID-19 sick leave, there is concern or reluctance to use it, even if it would be in the interest of colleagues to use it,鈥� said Jared Make, the vice president of A Better Balance, a nationwide nonprofit advocate for paid family and medical leave. Make鈥檚 organization receives requests for legal help from workers across all industries, including K-12 education.
鈥淭here鈥檚 a fear: 鈥榃hat if my child gets sick, or my elderly parent? I might need to use some of that time,鈥欌�� Make said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a real shortcoming that we don鈥檛 have a clear legal right across this country to COVID-19 sick leave specifically, let alone a guaranteed right to sick time.鈥�
In interviews, some teachers said they鈥檝e heard anecdotally that some school employees who have mild symptoms are not taking a COVID-19 test because they can鈥檛 afford to miss work if they test positive. Research may back that up: Workers without paid sick leave are less likely to take time off when ill, .
鈥淚n general, teachers are going to do the right thing and stay home because it鈥檚 our nightmare to give COVID to our kids,鈥� said Megan Mullaly, a 6th grade teacher in San Jose, Calif.
But, she added, 鈥渋t feels like the people who do the right thing are getting punished for it.鈥�
Districts fear additional days off will make staffing shortages worse
Some school administrators now say they鈥檙e wary of extending so much paid leave to employees that staff would rush to take advantage of it, exacerbating ongoing staffing shortages that have plagued districts all school year.
In Illinois, both houses of the state legislature have that would require school districts to pay employees for as many days as they need to recover from COVID-19 or quarantine away from work per public health guidelines. Gov. J.B. Pritzker, a Democrat, has said he opposes the bill and wants it to cover only vaccinated school employees. If Pritzker doesn鈥檛 sign or veto the bill by the end of the month, it will become law regardless.
The legislation has been supported by teachers鈥� unions but opposed by the Illinois Association of School Administrators. Warnecke, the group鈥檚 spokeswoman who also served as superintendent of the East Alton district until Dec. 31, said some districts in the state have already received calls from school employees who think the proposed state law is in effect and want to take advantage of the provision for more time off.
If a school employee鈥檚 child were exposed to COVID-19 and required to quarantine at home, the employee 鈥渕ight have been willing to find other arrangements for their child鈥� if COVID-specific paid leave weren鈥檛 an option for the employee, Warnecke said.
If the law were to pass, 鈥渂ecause they know they have access to unlimited paid leave days, maybe they will be less likely to try to find other options for care,鈥� she said.
The result, Warnecke said, could be more-severe staff shortages than the ones schools already face, and more challenging conditions for student learning.
The administrators鈥� organization is also concerned that a broad statewide mandate could discourage districts from collaborating with their local bargaining units on policies that work for the district鈥檚 needs.
Some districts have already done that collaboration. The Maine Township district 20 miles north of Chicago is among the Illinois districts that has developed its own approach to handling paid leave during the pandemic.
Rather than having a one-size-fits-all policy, the district handles requests for paid time off on a case-by-case basis. Vaccinated employees鈥攔epresenting 97 percent of the district鈥檚 workforce鈥攚ho catch COVID will generally get as much paid time off as they need to recover, said Ken Wallace, the district鈥檚 superintendent.
鈥淭he vast majority of our staff are acting in the absolute best faith that they can,鈥� Wallace said. 鈥淚 just have a hard time thinking it鈥檚 OK to charge them for time off when they鈥檙e getting sick when they came to work during a pandemic.鈥�
Wallace and his team resisted setting a blanket 10-day COVID leave policy after seeing some situations where employees legitimately needed more than 10 days off to recover from illness.
鈥淩ight now my instinct is to try to be as flexible as I can, and try to work with the people who are trying to educate our kids, and if that鈥檚 10 days so be it, if that鈥檚 five days so be it, if that鈥檚 15 days so be it,鈥� Wallace said.
Even though Wallace鈥檚 district is already aligned with what the proposed Illinois law would require, he鈥檚 still concerned that a statewide mandate, on top of other recently enacted requirements, could burden already-beleaguered understaffed district offices that are drowning in legal paperwork.
鈥榃e didn鈥檛 want to make it too easy to miss work鈥�
Other district leaders and boards that have resisted extending COVID-specific leave cite the rising cost of hiring substitutes鈥攁nd the steep challenge of finding enough of them鈥攖o cover for employees who are out for any length of time.
The Springfield district in Missouri capped its COVID-specific paid leave offering at five days for employees who test positive or have to take care of a K-8 child who鈥檚 sick or quarantining at home.
鈥淚f we gave too much leave, they may not be as likely to take precautions outside of work, or may not be as likely to get vaccinated,鈥� said John Mulford, the district鈥檚 deputy superintendent of operations. 鈥淲e didn鈥檛 want to make it too easy to miss work. We also wanted to be sympathetic to people who do come down with COVID-19. It鈥檚 a fine line we鈥檙e trying to balance.鈥�
The more employees are out on leave, the more other people will need to step in鈥攁nd that鈥檚 a challenge for districts right now.
According to an October survey by the EdWeek Research Center, 77 percent of district leaders and principals said substitute teachers are hard to come by. Some districts, like the in New Jersey and the in Michigan, have taken to raising wages by as much as double to tackle the nationwide shortage of people willing to step in temporarily for educators during the still-raging pandemic.
A handful of districts so far, including in Arkansas and in Louisiana, have allocated a few hundred thousand dollars out of their federal COVID relief aid funds to pay for more substitutes as a result of teachers taking COVID-related time off.
Other districts say the minor costs associated with offering generous paid leave are outweighed by the consequences of failing to offer it.
The Brewer district in Maine gave employees year-round permission to tap into its sick leave pool, typically only open for applications at the start of the school year. Employees who need to stay home for COVID-related reasons can access the pool regardless of how many of their own sick days they鈥檝e accrued.
The sick leave pool for teachers has thousands of unused days for employees to use. Gregg Palmer, the district鈥檚 superintendent, said some of his donated leave from when he was a teacher in the 1990s is still in there. Non-teachers have their own pool, which is smaller, but they can borrow from teachers and administrators if it runs out.
Palmer said he isn鈥檛 worried about employees abusing the generous policy. 鈥淚 think that that concern goes up when you have people far away from your school district creating a policy that the locals have to enact,鈥� Palmer said. 鈥淚f you鈥檙e treating people right, they鈥檙e going to be in when they鈥檙e able to be in. Too often I think we guard against the fear of the exception.鈥�
He鈥檚 also not sweating the cost of substitutes to cover for employees who take off. 鈥淭he cost is artificially capped,鈥� he said. 鈥淣obody in America can hire enough substitutes right now. If we need 14 subs tomorrow, and we can only hire six, then that鈥檚 it, we can only hire six.鈥�
But paid leave can have other hidden costs for school districts as well. The Johnson City schools in Tennessee spent $3,400 on part-time human resources staff to help manage its paid leave offerings while the federal government required them. 鈥淭here was a large administrative burden鈥� as well, said Collin Brooks, a spokesperson for the district.
Now, without a COVID-specific leave option in place, teachers who have to stay home due to COVID can tap into the district鈥檚 sick leave pool. Classified staff can donate their accrued sick time to each other, Brooks said.
In Madison, Wis., school board member Nicki Vander Meulen introduced a resolution in October to provide 10 days of COVID-specific leave to all of the district鈥檚 employees, including hourly workers. But she couldn鈥檛 secure enough votes to get the item on the agenda, and the process of developing a policy has dragged out for months.
鈥淚t鈥檚 paperwork, and it鈥檚 administration of paperwork,鈥� Vander Meulen said. 鈥淲e have an understaffed human resources department who are doing their best to keep up.鈥�
The district just shut down for a few days to give administrators more time to set up COVID-19 testing and other mitigation strategies. A paid leave policy still isn鈥檛 in place. Vander Meulen believes such a policy is critical to avoid the long-term costs of lost instructional time and chaos around necessary school closures.
鈥淗ow many people are going to stay at most jobs when they get 10 or less sick days a year? Are they really going to be able to comply with the request to test? They can鈥檛 afford to miss work,鈥� she said. 鈥淪o they don鈥檛, and then this pandemic keeps mutating.鈥�
