Teachers undercompensated

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Updated: March 7, 2012 9:46AM

When I was teaching on the West Side almost four decades ago, the principal said that even in the good old days of robber-baron capitalism and sweatshops, schoolteachers worked a five-day week and got summers off.

Teachers, especially those assigned to the poorer areas, are exposed to every respiratory and contagious ailment brought into the classroom by their charges, and it was recognized early on that they should receive some sort of compensatory time for proper recovery in order to prevent contagion from further spreading.

It stands to reason that teachers who manage to keep themselves healthy, thus providing a continuity of educating their pupils, should be able to benefit from not requiring the service of a substitute teacher.

In practice, the accumulation of sick days by the teaching force should save the taxpayers millions rather than cost them. In theory, the savings accrued throughout the career of a teacher should cover the cost of repaying them for what should be a valued service to the system. That being said, there should be no such provision for the non-teaching CPS staff. When principals or other administrative staff takes a sick day, there is no such provision for a substitute and therefore no savings to the system.

It is high time to recognize that rank-and-file teachers are still overworked and undercompensated for the vital role they play in the life of this great metropolis.

Stan Hollenbeck, Buena Park

I earned my sick days

I am a veteran CPS teacher who is retiring in June. Yes, I have sick days! I saved my sick days and make no apologies to anyone. I have been encouraged by CPS administrators to come to work sick because some of the schools I worked in were so dangerous, no subs would show up. When no subs came, the teachers were forced to double-up or even triple-up classrooms. Needless to say, my students would have missed a day of instruction if I took off. I took a year off for a maternity leave (I found my replacement) and did not use any sick days — my choice. I did wonder why my friends in private industry had paid maternity leave while we, at female-dominated CPS, had no paid maternity leave provisions.

I am now a special-education teacher who rarely takes a day off, partly because there are no special-education subs. Let’s not even start on the amount of money I have spent on materials, books or students who do not have mittens or hats. CPS has saved a lot of money by not paying for substitutes for me and now wants to balance its budget on my back! I love the children, like their parents, and respect my immediate administrators, but I continue to despise my employer. I will miss the children but not the total lack of respect CPS exhibits toward its employees.

Kathleen Powers, Clearing