I am a NYC DOE teacher.  Teachers like me, as well as other DOE employees in my union, the UFT, must lose pay to take care of our sick children. We take care of other people's children every day, with pride, but are left to scramble for care when our own children are sick.

Teachers are allowed to use 3 personal days per 180-day school year in order to care for their own sick children.  Even if we have accrued extra sick days over a period of months or years, we are not allowed to use them to care for our children.

And now, during the Adams administration, there is intense scrutiny on payroll secretaries, checking to make sure that they dock teachers who take more than 3 personal days per school year.  In a triple-demic winter, the DOE is nickle-and-diming rank and file teachers over a few sick days.  I should be surprised, but I'm not, seeing as how the Adams-controlled DOE has slashed school budgets in a time of great need, and spent millions in court defending those budget cuts. Lip service is paid to helping teachers afford to live in NYC, but that talk is not reflected in actual policies.

I understand that we can't have unlimited sick days.  However, we should at least be able to use our 10 sick days a year at our own discretion, as well as saved sick days with proper documentation. 

How many of our kids are never sick during a 10 month school year? My kids are pretty healthy, but they each get sick a few days per year. Plus, I have times I need to take personal days for them, for special events such as their Kindergarten and 5th grade graduations. That leaves me in a position where I will be docked a day's pay if I take a 4th personal day.  I can't afford to lose that money. Inflation is through the roof, childcare costs are soaring, and one day's pay amounts to a week's worth of groceries for my family. The DOE is putting its own employees in a position where they may feel pressure to lie about the nature of their days off, or send their kids to school sick.

Please, DOE, change this policy, and let teachers, paraprofessionals, nurses and related service providers care for our own children without cutting our pay.