Pop Quiz: Who Skips School More Often, Students or Teachers?

Teachers in the San Francisco Unified School
District are absent from class more frequently than students,
according to a report by
SFGate:

While absenteeism is usually considered a student matter, in San
Francisco – and many other districts – the average teacher misses
more school than the average child.

If last year’s numbers hold steady, the 4,100 teachers in San
Francisco, on average, will each be absent about 11 times this
school year, about once every three weeks. That’s four to five days
more than a typical student, out of 180 days total.

About seven of those days were for sick or personal leave, and
the rest were training days offered or required by
the district.

While the teacher absentee rate is about average, or even a
smidge below average, for large urban districts across the country,
it’s a lot higher than other industries, where the typical worker
takes about four sick or personal days over an
entire year.

Does that seem like a lot of missed days? Maybe, maybe
not—although it is important to remember that teachers already get
more “off” time than other professions, thanks to summer break.
Even so, San Francisco’s numbers clearly aren’t as bad as many
other districts:

Twenty percent of San Francisco teachers were absent three days
or fewer in 2012-2013, according to the national report, which
analyzed data from 40 urban districts.

“One in 5 is doing a great job of being there every day,” said
Waymack, a former San Francisco school district administrator.
…

But 13 percent of the district’s teachers were chronically
absent, missing more than 18 days out of 180 – one, two or three
days at a time. Those on disability or maternity leave were not
included in that count.

“I think that is a lot,” Waymack said.

Yet it’s actually lower than the norm across the 40 districts
studied, where 16 percent were chronically absent.

Full report
here.