Philly teachers rally against a policy that penalizes them for taking earned sick days

Philadelphia teachers rallied Thursday against a policy that penalizes them progressively for taking their contractually guaranteed sick days.

About two dozen educators from around the city walked in a slow circle, holding signs and chanting.

“3-5-7-9, let us use our sick time,” they shouted.

With the district’s “3-5-7-9″ policy, teachers are given memos and have informal conferences with their principal after their third absence “occurrence,” whether it’s a single sick day or a consecutive stretch of days. After the fifth occurrence, they get a warning memo in their permanent file; after the seventh, the teacher gets an “unsatisfactory incident” memo in their file and a formal conference. When teachers reach nine occurrences, they get a second unsatisfactory incident report, a recommended suspension, and conferences with their principal and assistant superintendent.

» READ MORE: Sick days come with their contract. But Philly teachers get punished for taking them.

Siani Yoeun, a fourth-grade teacher at Mitchell Elementary, missed more work than ever this year because she suffered a kidney infection and a miscarriage. She’s up to six occurrences.

“I don’t want to be sick, and I don’t deserve to be penalized because I was sick,” said Yoeun, a five-year veteran. “It’s super frustrating.”

Yoeun’s colleague Maeve Rooney, Mitchell’s art teacher, had more occurrences than usual because her husband died.

“I probably would have taken more time off, but I had to strategically take my time,” said Rooney.

Charlie Hudgins, a math teacher at Lincoln High, finds the policy especially frustrating given the current teacher shortage in Philadelphia and across the country.

“We don’t need anything else that drives people from the profession,” said Hudgins. He’s had four occurrences so far this year, and came to work ill because “I just didn’t want to get that fifth occurrence.”

Absence-related sanctions are carried out unevenly across the district and even within schools, Hudgins said.

“It’s so arbitrary how it’s enforced,” said Hudgins, who was one of a group of teachers who shredded “occurrence memos” and played games during the demonstration to underscore what they said was the stressful and unpredictable nature of the policy.

Superintendent Tony B. Watlington Sr. has emphasized the importance of teacher attendance as a hallmark of his strategic plan to improve academic outcomes in the district, but said he does not want teachers to come to school when they’re ill. But he’s also acknowledged problems with the 3-5-7-9 policy, and said changes are on the table.

The rally was not sponsored by the PFT, but organized by the Caucus of Working Educators, a progressive group within the union. But PFT president Jerry Jordan has been clear about a need for change to the policy.

“If someone is sick, that’s what the sick days are for — people should not be mistreated or abused by administration for taking that time,” Jordan has said. “There are some overzealous administrators in some buildings, and that’s caused a number of people to be called in about attendance. But people’s health issues are their personal business, and if they’re not there, they’re not there.”