More on Attendance

The following absence data is taken from D11 records. This is a by-school look at teacher attendance across the district. Keep in mind that students can be declared truant after missing 10 days in a school year. The data below shows the total number of teachers in each school (data taken from D11 School Accountability Reports) and the total number of teachers in that school who missed 10 or more days during the 2005-2006 school year. The last number is the percent of teaching staff per school who missed 10 or more days of school in a 170 day school year.

Coronado High School: 83 teachers; 34 absent > 10 days; 41%
Doherty High School: 108 teachers; 47 absent > 10 days; 44%
Mitchell High School: 85 teachers; 37 absent > 10; 44%
Palmer High School: 105 teachers; 49 absent > 10; 47%
Wasson High School: 85 teachers; 35 absent > 10; 41%

East Middle School: 36 teachers; 23 absent > 10; 64%
Holmes MS: 44 teachers; 20 absent > 10; 45%
Irving MS: 56 teachers; 25 absent > 10; 45%
Jenkins MS: 51 teachers; 25 absent > 10; 49%
Mann MS: 43 teachers; 22 absent > 10; 51%
North MS: 41 teachers; 27 absent > 10; 66%
Russell MS: 45 teachers; 9 absent > 10; 20%
Sabin MS: 46 teachers; 22 absent > 10; 48%
West MS: 34 teachers; 24 absent > 10; 71%

Adams Elementary: 24 teachers; 18 absent > 10; 75%
Audobon: 26 teachers; 11 absent > 10; 42%
Bates: 18 teachers; 9 absent > 10; 50%
Bristol: 19 teachers; 8 absent > 10; 42%
Buena Vista: 18 teachers; 7 absent > 10; 39%
Carver: 28 teachers; 11 absent > 10; 39%
Chipeta: 27 teachers; 12 absent > 10; 44%
Columbia: 17 teachers; 11 absent > 10; 65%
Edison: 26 teachers; 9 absent > 10; 35%
Fremont: 23 teachers; 10 absent > 10; 43%
Grant: 31 teachers; 12 absent > 10; 39%
Henry: 27 teachers; 15 absent > 10; 56%
Howbert: 19 teachers; 1 absent > 10; 5%
Hunt: 22 teachers; 9 absent > 10; 41%
Ivywild: 17 teachers; 9 absent > 10; 53%
Jackson: 19 teachers; 3 absent > 10; 16%
Jefferson: 20 teachers; 10 absent > 10; 50%
Keller: 31 teachers; 8 absent > 10; 26%
King: 29 teachers; 8 absent > 10; 28%
Lincoln: 23 teachers; 3 absent > 10; 13%
Longfellow: 23 teachers; 14 absent > 10; 61%
Martinez: 41 teachers; 10 absent > 10; 24%
Madison: 23 teachers; 6 absent > 10; 26%
Midland: 14 teachers; 6 absent > 10; 43%
Monroe: 33 teachers; 21 absent > 10; 64%
Queen Palmer: 21 teachers; 12 absent > 10; 57%
Penrose: 31 teachers; 7 absent > 10; 23%
Pike: 14 teachers; 7 absent > 10; 50%
Rogers: 26 teachers; 15 absent > 10; 58%
Rudy: 33 teachers; 10 absent > 10; 30%
Scott: 41 teachers; 14 absent > 10; 34%
Steele: 18 teachers: 3 absent > 10; 17%
Stratton: 21 teachers; 9 absent > 10; 43%
Taylor: 22 teachers; 3 absent > 10; 14%
Trailblazer: 25 teachers; 14 absent > 10; 56%
Twain: 41 teachers; 24 absent > 10; 58%
Washington: 21 teachers; 13 absent > 10; 62%
Whittier: 15 teachers; 6 absent > 10; 40%
Wilson: 39 teachers; 13 absent > 10; 33%

On average, 44% of the D11 high school teachers were absent from their classrooms more than 10 days during the 05-06 school year. On average, 51% of middle school teachers in D11 were absent from their classrooms more than 10 days in that same year. On average, the elementary schools checked in a little better with 41% of teachers absent from their classrooms more than 10 times that school year.

Although the District does occasionally require teachers to be absent from their classrooms for training, there are very few "workshop" or "district meeting" reasons given on the absence reports.

This level of absences in D11 is not only disruptive to student learning, it is expensive to the taxpayers. D11 spends $2.5 million per year to hire substitute teachers. This is a district-wide problem that needs to be addressed. Although the supporters of the status quo, such as John Gudvangen, believe that nothing needs to change in D11, I would strongly disagree. The D11 school year is only 170 days long. If we are to tell our students that it is their "job" to be in class each day, then we must also ensure that our teachers are in those classrooms every day as well.