[ad_1]
Glen Park Elementary School in San Francisco, where a female teacher fights cancer while paying for her replacement (NBC Bay Area)
For decades, critically ill teachers in California have been quietly forced to pay the salaries of their substitute teachers while taking extended leave. But this week, the outrage aroused by the law has appeared so strong that the state legislature could as well have adopted it yesterday.
Like many terrible stories, this one appeared with a GoFundMe page.
The parents of the San Francisco Unified School District launched a fundraiser for a second year teacher on April 25, after discovering that she was not only fighting breast cancer but She also had to pay her own substitute. the San Francisco Chronicle was the first to report Tuesday on the difficult situation of the teacher and fundraiser, shocking the local community and leading to a nationwide law review.
"Parents were scandalized and incredulous – like, that's impossible," said Amanda Fried, mother of a kindergarten child and a third-grader at The Chronicle. "There must be a mistake."
But Eric Heins, president of the California Teachers Association, told The Washington Post that this has been the norm for sick teachers for years. critical moment of need. He spoke of recent walkouts in Colorado and Oklahoma, where teachers protested low wages associated with high health costs.
According to Heins, what happened to this teacher in San Francisco is just one example of the pressure that so many educators are under.
"What it really is, reflects how much the system has been running out of money for so long," said Heins. "It is outrageous to think of a person with a catastrophic illness having to deal with these kinds of problems while she is already facing additional financial strain."
Parents, teachers, and others in San Francisco raised more than $ 13,700 to cover the teacher's medical expenses and pay for the substitute teacher. (The Post Office does not name the teacher with cancer because she requested anonymity for confidentiality reasons.)
The spokespersons of the San Francisco Unified School District did not immediately respond to the request for comment on the amount of teacher's remuneration deducted daily. But according to the collective agreement between the district and the union, the daily cost of a substitute teacher is between 174 and 240 dollars.
"She has fed our children and it's time for us to take care of her," wrote the fundraising organizers on the GoFundMe page.
Heins said the law requiring school districts to withhold salaries from teachers on paid sick leave was passed in the 1970s. California teachers do not contribute to the state disability program and so can not not benefit, he said. The rules for extended sick leave, however, vary by school district.
In San Francisco, teachers have 10 days of sick leave per year, in accordance with the collective agreement. Once they have exhausted their sick leave, including those accumulated in recent years, they are entitled to 100 days of extended sick leave. Teachers' salaries are deducted to fund the submarine's pay check during this period. Once the 100 days have passed, the teachers will remain unpaid, except if they are members of the bank of catastrophic sick leave, in which they give their sick leave to other people who need it.
The same type of sick leave bank has been used in many other states. In Alabama, for example, teachers gathered last month to donate sick leave to a high school social studies teacher following a plea from his wife. Their little girl was battling cancer and the teacher, David Green, was short of illness and could not be with her in the hospital anymore.
"It's one of the things you have, but there's a lot of compassion in our colleagues," said Heins. "That's why we make the bank of catastrophic sick leave. We try to take care of ourselves. "
In California, the law requiring sick teachers to pay for their submarines was even new to some lawmakers.
Senator Connie Leyva, Democrat and Chair of the California Senate Education Committee, told NBC Bay Area that she and other legislators were currently reviewing the rule.
"I just learned this problem and it seems quite outrageous," she told the chain. "Frankly, I think times have changed, and now it's our job to change over time."
The organizers of GoFundMe described the teacher as a "true professional" whose "dedication and love for her students can not be underestimated". Just days after her surgery, they said she had written 22 personalized notes to all the students in her class. to thank them for their support, "telling them that she missed them a lot and encouraging them to keep working hard."
"Our school is coming together to help her and make her feel that she is not alone," Narciso Flores-Diaz, a parent, told NBC Bay Area.
The fundraising organizers posted a message from the teacher as dozens of donations arrived, thanking the families. Fundraising has since stopped accepting donations after exceeding its $ 10,000 goal.
"My family and I are really grateful for this gift," said the sophomore. "My heart is up and it gives me so much strength to know that so many people care about me and my family."
[ad_2]
Source link