Bueller, Anyone?

Once in a great while (like once every other year, maybe) I'll take a day off from work.

I call it a "Mental Health Day." I can usually feel the need coming for a long time, and it usually happens in the second semester. Well, today is the day. It's been about a year since I took even a sick day, and I don't take many of those; about one sickness a year, and then it's one, maybe two days off. There are reasons to keep it brief: it's an expected professional courtesy to always leave a lesson plan for the substitute teacher, and it takes effort to write a good one (I'm not a "pop in the video tape" kind of guy: school is school, and they'll do something productive, thank you very much). And you never know who you're going to get as a sub or what mayhem will ensue while you're gone. The lesson has to be well-written (idiot-proof is literally the correct term here), complete with six or eight notes about individual students and contingency instructions for their behavior. So it takes quite a bit of effort in my profession to lie on the couch doped up on Day-Quil with Kleenez stuffed up one's nose. I keep an abundant supply of Alka-Seltzer Plus in my desk, and the coffemaker, my true friend, is always ready. Between the decongestant, analgesic, and caffeine, I can be pretty sick and still be at work & running things for myself, even if that means I'm behind my desk and they're doing bookwork and coming to me with questions. That can be infinitely easier than gambling on a sub & student behavior, and losing. Maybe more about substitute teachers later…

My students tell me "You're never absent." Maybe their other teachers are more sickly than I am.

I will use a sick day when I'm "no good to anyone, should be in bed" sick, and I'm grateful for the sick days that are provided in our contract, but I'm not sick today. I'm using a category in our contract known as "Personal Necessity." Three PN days are allowed every year, and the first two times it's invoked, the teacher doesn't need to give a reason for its use. I told my principal this morning that I was using a PN day. So I'm within the letter, and the spirit, of my contract. I don't feel any ethical conflict, because I'm not ethically compromised. The contract is clearly protecting the privacy of the teacher here, and "personal necessity" can have a broad definition, applied by the user.

I know some teachers who have all their sick days planned out. Obviously, they can't tell when they're going to be sick, so they're cheatng the system. With PN days available, I don't have to do that, so my conscience is at ease.

I left a lesson plan for the substitute teacher, and I know my students are fully capable of living without me, so I don't feel guilty about not being there, as I used to when I was a less-experienced teacher.

I'm sitting at home, doing some research online, relaxing, re-energizing. Funny how I just had a relatively slow weekend, but now that I'm taking a workday off, I feel immediately better. The psychological impact of getting out of the usual loop is strong.

Or maybe it's just the pleasure that comes from play hookey… : )