Before you try to take money out of my pocket and the rest of the teachers go after the other government hacks killing your wallet. At least we show up for work.

Georges Bank, you're obviously fishing off the wrong shoreline: as a Sun article recently reported,, Lowell's teachers have a very poor absenteeism rate. They average nearly 14 days out a year, out of 180 work days.. That's nearly 8 percent of the schedule. Most private sector workers like myself get only 3 sick days a year. I firmly believe that if the kids got to see their teachers more often, there would be a big improvement in tet scores and discipline. But teachers in general use their sick days as an entitlement, planning vacations and days off like they are owed something. Yes, there are government hacks, but most people in municipal government, including teachers, are dedicated individuals. I think union leadership and union contracts have led the rank-and-file astray and created adversarial relationships that are harmful to the public and the public's treasury. In a word, "greed" dictates their work habits, not professional standards or achievements..

Way to stand up to that guy Jim. I am tired of listening to teachers whine about being underpaid and underapreciated. They work 180 days a year and their vacations are scheduled for them. They don't have to fight for time like the rest of the working world does. When all else fails, they abuse their sick days. I'd love to see the paper do an investigative report on what percentage of sick days taken come the day immediately before or after a school vacation or Monday holiday. Bernie Lynch should take that figure with him to the negotiating table and tell Paul Georges what to do with it.

I wonder if you couldn't go at this problem from another direction.
I know where I work, we are carefully instructed that if we are out of work sick.. and something happens to us "out there" .. such as the beach, or a car accident on a distant highway.. our life insurance benefits and possibly health insurance benefits may not apply (as we are defrauding the company through misuse of sick time).
Perhaps negotiating some consequences into the contracts is a direction to go.

I don't know if the sun has done this recently, but can you provide a graph of how many sick days are taken per "day of the week."? Sometimes a picture makes the point so much better than words.

Mr. Joe Q. Taxpayer you've hit the nail right on the head: few are willing to stand up to the teachers' union because they don't want to be labeled anti-education. It''s like the gay marriage debate. If I don't agree with gay marriage, I am labeled a homophobe. It's the anti-anti copout. Anyway, City Manager Lynch did a good job in Chelmsford reining in the School Dept. on union contracts. They got paid what the town could afford. Hopefully, the same will happen here. But union teachers and Chablis-sipping supporters from Belvidere and the Highlands usually exert pressure on politicians with cries of, "We need more money for the children." They make the debate emotional and irrational instead of reasonable, and politicians cave in. This is why there is so little accountability in union contracts, especially for teachers. Paul Georges, the union head, shouldn't drive the debate about an extended school day in Lowell, but he does. If kids need more time in school to achieve success, the superintendent should make the call and the school committee should approve it. Right now,, however, Georges is the tail wagging the dog. That has got to end. So does 15 sick days and outrageous absenteeism abuses.

Shawn, here's the way to go at it. The School Dept. should cut back on its substitute teaching budget and when all funds are expended, that's it. Let the teachers take care of the overtload, supervising classes for their colleagues who abuse sick time. In this way, peer pressure will do more than hiring a substitute who just baby sits the kids while the regular teacher is out shopping. Overall, though, the sick days have to be bargained out of contracts and reduced dramatically.

We have truancy officers for the kids. How about a couple for the teachers. The money we pay for that might come back to the city two-fold.

I wouldn't have as much of a problem with the teacher's union if Paul Georges would just say what he is - an advocate for the teachers - instead of hiding behind "the children" and calling anyone who disagrees with him anti-education. Is it even possible to be against education?

So let me get this straight. The city sick leave ordinance states employees can be asked to produce a doctor's note for sick leave. Now, it is one thing to stay home when you have a stomach bug or a head cold for the odd day or even stay home for a few days if you get the flu. Sometimes it doesn't warrant a trip to the doctor, but none of these real sick days tend to follow any particular pattern. If there are patterns of abuse, why aren't the managers in the school department asking for notes?

Smokey, by union contract, a superviser can request a doctor's note under one condition: a teachers misses five consecutive days of work. What happens is that a teachers misses 4 days, then rreturns on the 5th to avoid a doctor's note. Also, there are patterns of abuse that have been identified. Teachers taking Mondays and Fridays off. A Sun expose highlighted this six years ago, idnetifying 23 suspect teachers who made this a regular practice. Also, there was a pattern of one teacher taking every Tuesday out of work. Finally, they like to take off a day before a vacation and a day afterr a vacation.

Jim,

I just learned something new. I was always under the impression one sick day meant you could be asked for a note, not five. I don't doubt the patterns. I questioned why it was so hard to enforce the ordinance with such easily identifiable patterns. I don't anymore. Abuse seems pretty easy if you get 4 freebies. I hope everyone knows it makes the good employees as mad as the rest of the world.

I invite you all the spend one full year as a teacher in the Lowell Public Schools. Yes, simply 180 days.

Hey, Joe, good luck this year. Even though Paul "I'm All for Hindering Education" Georges likes to say I'm anti-education for exposing the union's abuses, I'm not against teachers. Anyone who accepts the job, and works hard to improve the lives of our young people, gets my admiration and support. However, I would take up your challenge to work in the Lowell public schools under one condition: I will work at the base salary (I believe it's around $31,000 for new teachers) if I can receive a merit pay bonus for improving the MCAS test scores of a majority of my students. Here's how it will break down: If I improve the scores of 10 percent of my, say, 30 students (3 kids), I get $4,500; if I improve 20 percent (6 kids) I get $9,000; if I improve 50 percent (15 kids), I get $22,500 in merit pay. Well, you get the point. I will willingly accept the job if I know that my hard work, as opposed to mediocrity that union contract's protect and preserve, is recognized. It would good if a majority of teachers wanted to be recognized for their work, with bonus payments, but most don't because they won't challenge the status quo. There's money in failure. And that's what we have in the public school system throughout America. Just look at Lowell superintendent of schools. She's gotten two bonus payments, or salary increases, in two years, for adding more failing schools to the state's watch list. Now that the Freshmen Academy is also a failure, or at least needs a correction, she still gets a $5,000 bonus even though her review by the School Committee was only so-so. The education profession settles for less and that's what's wrong with it. Dedicated, results minded teachers deserve more money and I'm all in favor of that.

Jim,
You got it! You can actually have my salary which is 67,208. I am a teacher entering my 10th year. I've worked very hard to earn my C.A.G.S degree, resulting in a higher pay scale. I am very dedicated and hard working. Only entering into my 10th year, I haven't yet reached the "crabby" teacher phase of my carreer. What many folks don't understand is that there are many of us who work our tails off with students that come to school on the average of 4 days a week. It is very difficult to raise test scores when there is not a consistent audience in front of you. How do I fix that? The teachers at my school jokingly call the truant officer "auntie", because she has been to so many houses, so many times. It is not an effective means of getting kids to school everyday. I understand that you are not anti-teacher, I'm just not sure you have the full picture.