The rantings of a teacher who retired from the classroom but not from education.
Saturday, February 04, 2012
The Widow
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The rantings of a teacher who retired from the classroom but not from education.
6 comments:
Sad. I wonder how Bloomberg or the Chancellor would answer to that same exact scenerio if forced to respond. In fact, I wonder how any person in the position of control in respect to authority over a worker would respond. It points to an issue little discussed in America or perhaps the majority of the civilized world.
No, this is not an issue in the rest of the civilized world. The rest of the, let's refer to this as "the industrialized nations", all know, unlike our wonderful nation, that a nationalized health care system makes sense. Along with this nationalized system comes the right to have more than 10 days for healing. In France, your doctor writes a work stop, or work break note, automatically granting you the amount of time that you need to get well. This would include the need for a psychological break.
There are rules that go along with these "work stops". You cannot leave the house except during certain hours etc. and can be cited for not adhering to these rules.
We live in a plutocracy. The US is on it's way to becoming a nation of low wage earners because that's what corporate america wants. That is one of the underlying reasons for the destruction of public education, along with the profit to be made through testing and benefit/pension saving on a revolving door teaching force.
If they are as kind to this poor soul as they were to me when I was caring for my elderly dementia-wracked father, they will yell at her to snap out of it and give her a counseling memo. It doesn't matter what the circumstances are. The world of the DOE is a very cruel and heartless world, bent upon ruining careers and lives, especially when you are over 40.
I remember a story another teacher told me about her former principal.
A young mother had called in to say she would be absent. She informed the principal that her baby had to be taken to the emergency room and they didn't get back until the wee hours of the morning.
The principal angrily responded that she needs to put her priorities in place, and without missing a beat the teacher told her she had.
Only in America!!
Can this teacher take a leave of absence without pay? I took one after September 11th, since I was teaching downtown and was worried about the air quality of my school (it was scheduled to be cleaned over the summer, so I left for the spring term). I just needed to get a doctor to sign a note, which he didn't mind doing since I wasn't asking for pay, and wanted some time off and to be able to return to my job in the fall.
A similar situation arose in my district. The other staff were allowed to "donate" their sick days to our person in need. I was so proud that my district would encourage others to look out for a peer. The person returned after the additional time off to a work place that was supportive.
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