Paid Leave: Hillsborough County Public Schools Says, Don't Use It
HCPS gives teachers on a 10-month contract 10 days of leave per school year
Many years ago, Hillsborough County Public Schools did not want to allow me back into the District. I had no idea why. Through some research and a call to a School Board member, I found out it was because I had too many absences. What was too many? I requested my personnel file and discovered the answer:
11.
HCPS gives 10-month contract teachers 10 days of leave per school year: four days up front, and then about a day each month as the school year progresses. There has only been one year in my entire school career where I did not use all 10 of my absences [and then some]. There are many reasons for this but it all boils down to one: HEALTH.
Prior to the contagion, I always had a strong personal illness code: If I was sick, I did not come to work. Period. Excessive coughing, nose running, sore throat, gastrointestinal issues--I wasn't coming. If I felt like I was about to become sick, I wasn't coming. I know my body very well and I know how to heal myself. And I can do this fairly quickly with rest and hydration, exclusively.
I had utter disgust for school staff that would come to work and talk about how sick they were--coughing and sneezing and shit and touching everything as normal. And so during the contagion, I was living my best life. I was one of the healthiest people I knew. Everyone [else] was masked up, washing their hands, and bathing in hand sanitizer. They were forced to stay home if they were symptomatic and asymptomatic but exposed. However, I knew that these "health" practices would not continue. People are nasty and it isn't just the students. Plus, we do not have a culture of health. We have a culture of work till you die--especially in education.
When I sat down with the top dog in Human Resources, he told me,
We give you these days of leave, but we do not want you to use them.
I sat there thinking, No the fuck he did not just say this to me. As hard as we work...how we dedicate our lives to these students...to this system...and you don't even want us to invest in ourselves...fuck that.
And I have continued to use every bit of leave that any school district "gives" to me [as part of my benefits package because, bitch, it isn't a donation, it is an exchange for my work that I am providing to your organization that could not function without its employees which is why the system is crumbling and there are bus driver, cafeteria worker, and teacher shortages and, oh God, I hope this shit burns to the ground]. I have no qualms whatsoever about being absent to take care of myself– mentally, emotionally, spiritually, physically--or others in any capacity. If the students have to reset, then so do the staff. Mental health affects your physical health. I value myself. I value my life. And I saw first hand when my best friend died, the District posted his job within 48 hours. We are mere cogs in the system.
