ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, August 9, 1996 TAG: 9608090062
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: BEDFORD
SOURCE: JOANNE POINDEXTER STAFF WRITER
The Bedford County School Board Thursday adopted a teacher-recommended policy on teacher attendance and substitutes.
The new policy, submitted by the Bedford County Education Association, calls for more use of substitute teachers rather than staff to fill in for absent teachers, and sets guidelines for responding to excessive teacher absences.
School Superintendent John Kent recommended that the board adopt the policy. Kent said the only flaw he saw was no mention of medical documentation for some sick leave. Board member Betty Earle asked that evaluation of principals include how effectively they use substitute teachers in their schools.
The board voted to add both requirements and unanimously approved the policy.
Board member Stanley Butler thanked the teachers for developing "a good plan," while board member Shirley McCabe said it was one that could be understood.
"We are pleased. They were very cautious," BCEA Vice President Jess Tucker said after the meeting. "I was surprised because the first [proposal] was so strict and this one is more lenient."
Teachers packed the July25 School Board meeting, objecting to an administrative committee's proposal for teacher attendance and the use of substitute teachers. The teachers said they were offended by the earlier proposal because it indicated teacher absenteeism is a problem when in reality school data show teacher attendance was 96 percent for 120,400 teaching days in the 1995-96 school year.
The BCEA, in its proposal from members and nonmembers, said, "Teachers felt that the brunt of the [administrative] committee's proposal was punitive and treated teachers as unprofessionals who would use leave indiscriminately."
The board asked that Kent meet with the teachers to revise the policy.
The BCEA agreed with the original proposal that principals should monitor absences and should have a corrective plan for teachers who "establish a pattern of excessive absences that adversely affect instruction."
The teachers' proposal deleted "a lot of ambiguous specifics" such as verification of absences and the number of medically undocumented days, Tucker said.
The original proposal, he said, allowed principals to interpret verification requirements in too many ways. The teachers also deleted a proposal making medical documentation necessary for a teacher who misses more than five sick days a year, because they thought it was covered in the teacher evaluation manual.
The BCEA also recommended that the administration recruit, train and keep a list of qualified substitutes for the whole school system. Principals would select from the pool.
BCEA members complained in June that the current substitute policy was unfair. It allotted each school a specific number of days for substitute teachers and resulted in teachers' doing double duty when a co-worker was out.
Kent then appointed the administrative committee that proposed a policy to handle not only substitute teachers, but also teacher attendance.
Tucker said the new policy meets the BCEA's goal of hiring more substitutes and making principals rely on already-established remedies for teachers who may abuse attendance guidelines.
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