As contract talks stall, Cahokia school leaders, teachers clash over sick leave

As many Cahokia School District employees near 120 days without a contract, district leadership is raising alarms over what it calls widespread abuse of sick leave. The union contends this is a manufactured issue, distracting from deeper problems like high turnover and low morale.

The 2024-25 Illinois Report Card, published late last month by the state board of education, shows 45% of teachers in Cahokia Community Unit School District 187 had fewer than 10 absences during the school year, while the majority missed 10 or more days. The figure includes sick days and other specified reasons for missing work, as defined by the Illinois State Board of Education.

By comparison, 66% of teachers statewide had fewer than 10 absences in a school year.

Cahokia Superintendent Curtis McCall Jr. previously told the Belleville News-Democrat that last year alone, education staff — the majority of whom are union members, he said — collectively missed more than 6,000 days of work.

“These numbers are alarming and disheartening because all of the research shows teacher attendance is crucial for student success,” McCall said.

But leaders with the Cahokia Federation of Teachers Local 1272 say those figures are inaccurate.

In examining five years of sick leave data it previously received from the district, the union found the employees it represents collectively used an average of 2,066 sick days per year. Teachers specifically used an average of about six days per year each, according to their calculations.

“The union would never condone the abuse of sick leave,” Union President Wendy Lochmann said, explaining there is mutually-agreed-upon language in the now-expired contracts that guard against sick leave abuse. “But, we don’t believe the district’s data shows, on average, that we have a sick leave problem.”

Why the discrepancies in the data?

Both sides questioned each other’s numbers, and how they each painted very different pictures of sick leave use. Here’s how McCall and the union said they reached their conclusions:

• District’s calculation: McCall said the district looked at each individual’s daily attendance records over the span of a year and added up their sick and personal days, the latter of which can be used for things like funerals, jury duty or other approved reasons. The count did not include FMLA. McCall maintains that most of the absences included in the 6,000 figure are classified as sick days, since staff receive relatively few personal days compared with sick days. He said the majority of staff included in the count are union members, and administrators are not included. The union represents teachers, service workers and secretaries.
• Union’s calculation: The union specifically requested and obtained data from the district, Lochmann stressed, on the three groups it represents. They only included sick days, not personal leave or FMLA, in their analysis.

The Belleville News-Democrat submitted a public records request Friday for the data given to the union and any other documents that show the total number of sick days teachers, secretaries and service workers took last school year. The district has five business days to respond.

How Illinois measures teacher attendance

Illinois State Board of Education Press Secretary Lindsay Record said districts report their teacher attendance rates to ISBE through data systems, along with much of the other information included on the state report card.

She said districts must submit data that is accurate to the best of their knowledge. ISBE conducts data quality analysis throughout each school year and also provides guidance to ensure district-reported data meets reporting requirements, Record said.

ISBE defines the teacher attendance rate as the percentage of full-time-equivalent teachers who were absent fewer than 10 days for multiple reasons, except for absences under the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, professional development, long-term disability or statutorily defined parental leave.

Lochmann questioned whether, given this definition, the teacher attendance metrics on the Illinois Report Card are the best depiction of sick leave use across the Cahokia district, as they include more than just sick leave but also absences such as personal days, time taken for home repairs, funerals and jury duty.

McCall maintained that the report card data still points to the district having a sick leave abuse problem. He said this is because the majority of days teachers take off — and therefore, the majority of days considered in the state’s teacher absence metrics — are sick days.

“The number of sick leaves that were requested and approved in one school year was astronomical,” he said. “It doesn’t matter if you look at the state report card or the district’s report ... that’s astronomical.”

More pressing issues at play

District leadership continues to focus on sick leave, which the union argues distracts from serious staffing and morale challenges.

“Cahokia teachers are wanting to address the teacher turnover problem and certified staff turnover problem,” Lochmann said. “We wish Mr. McCall would work with us more about making sure we have teachers in our classrooms. We need stability in our schools.”

After reviewing board agendas for 2024, Lochmann said she found 29 teachers resigned, along with three speech-language pathologists, nine paraprofessionals, four social workers and five nurses. This level of turnover, she said, is unprecedented in her 24-year career in Cahokia.

Lochmann and Ray Roskos, the Illinois Federation of Teachers field service director who assists Cahokia’s union, previously told the Belleville News-Democrat that the district had 76 permanent substitutes filling certified positions last school year.

McCall said addressing sick leave abuse will ultimately help with staff turnover.

“When teachers are absent, other teachers have to pick up the slack for the teacher who is out. That can decrease morale and promote high turnover,” McCall said. “The first step in addressing teacher turnover is holding teachers to account to come to work. The second piece of it is a competitive and fair working wage, and I’m looking forward to conversations with the union regarding wages, because I do believe teachers deserve a fair, decent wage.”

New district sick leave policy sparks tension

As with student absenteeism, the pandemic put a spotlight on chronic teacher absenteeism, reporting from The 74 details.

The National Council on Teacher Quality reports that research links teacher absences to lower student academic achievement and puts a strain on school finances.

“It weighs more heavily in high-poverty schools (like Cahokia) because these students are already facing an uphill battle,” McCall said.

Previously, the district deferred to sick leave policy language in the now-expired contracts. The policy allowed the district to ask for a medical note to verify an illness if an employee was absent for three or more days, Lochmann said.

McCall said employees could easily abuse this system, for example, by taking two sick days and then a third as a personal day. Because they were not taking three consecutive working days of sick leave, they did not need to prove to the district they were ill with a medical note.

Now, to curb such abuse, employees are required to submit confirmation from a medical provider that they were ill and unable to work to be paid for sick leave of any amount. Illinois school code says school boards can ask for this documentation as a condition of pay if an employee takes fewer than three days of sick leave, provided the board pays the cost associated with the employee obtaining the note.

The new policy is working, McCall said. Sick leave use has decreased and employee attendance is up. But that has not come without further harm to employee morale, Lochmann said. Just last week, she went to school feeling unwell because she knew she would not be able to get an appointment with a trusted physician to verify her illness on short notice.

Lochmann also questioned how much of a burden the policy places on taxpayers. McCall said the district anticipated the cost of covering reimbursements for illness verification, and costs have not been “exorbitant.”

The union has long said the district’s contract proposals strip essential protections and provisions that benefit workers, while McCall said the proposals are changing long-standing policies and procedures that are not in students’ best interests. The district’s proposals include the new sick leave policy. McCall and Lochmann said they are still negotiating the sick leave language in the contract.

“I believe at this point, staff are more cognizant of their usage of their time (they take off), and now I believe we can come to the table to come to a consensus that’s fair across the board,” McCall said.