Since hiring a temp agency to find substitute teachers in 2014, St. Paul Public Schools has seen a sharp increase in absences from its full-time teachers.

Teachers are taking more sick and personal days, and they’re spending more time out of their classrooms in training. Overall, sub requests last year were up 32 percent from 2013-14.

That temporary workforce cost the district $6.7 million last year, up from $4 million four years earlier.

“We have to really seriously look at why the rate of absenteeism amongst our teachers has gone up so much,” school board member John Brodrick said at a June meeting, describing the numbers as “startling.”

Board member Mary Vanderwert said she was “kind of shocked” by the increase.

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The average St. Paul teacher last year asked for a sub 13 times, according to data the school district compiled in response to a Pioneer Press records request.

That includes six sick or personal days, three for job training and two for leaves of absence. The other two days were for a range of reasons, such as a family birth or death, union business or because the teacher quit midyear.

The increase in absences appears to be tied to the hiring of Teachers On Call in 2014.

In 2013, the last year the district hired its own subs, it managed to fill just 88 percent of all requests. That meant about 4,000 teacher absences that year were filled by either building administrators or fellow teachers giving up their prep time.

Teachers On Call promised it would consistently find subs for at least 90 percent of absent teachers. They filled just 89 percent their first year but 94 percent to 96 percent each of the three years since.

Laurin Cathey, the district’s human resources director, said teachers may be more likely to call in now that so few classrooms aren’t getting subs.

“When we didn’t have the ability to fill as many days, I think teachers were a lot more concerned about, ‘Will my students have somebody there?’ and just muddled through it,” Cathey said in an interview.

Cathey also suggested that heavy workloads and stress could be contributing to the increased absences.

Al Sowers, a vice president with Teachers On Call, said it makes sense that St. Paul teachers now are more willing to request a sub.

“Unless they have a reasonable assurance their classroom’s going to be covered, there’s a hesitancy to call in, even if they’re sick,” he said.

Sowers said if teachers are now staying home when they’re sick, that’s a good thing.

Teachers union president Nick Faber is not convinced that improving fill rates are encouraging teachers to take time off.

“It’s really a pain in the ass to take time off, whether you’re sick or not,” he said, citing the work that goes into preparing materials for a sub. “It’s sometimes more stress on the body than going to work that day with a cold.”

Faber suggested teachers are getting sick more often because underfunded schools are keeping teachers from getting the support they need.

Sowers said there are other factors driving up demand for subs. Companywide, he has seen an increase in requests for long-term subs because of teachers quitting during the year.

Some schools also have increased opportunities for school-year professional development or paid days off as teacher-retention strategies.

“It’s not all related to illness,” he said.

TRAINING IS UP

In St. Paul, teachers missed a total of 10,246 school days last year for job training, an increase of more than 3,000 days compared with 2014, when it was harder to find subs.

Hans Ott, assistant superintendent for teaching and learning, said that’s no coincidence. Teachers need training on iPads, dual teaching, restorative practices and more, he said, and the district couldn’t do as much when substitutes were less available.

With Teachers On Call filling around 95 percent of requests, he said, “we’ve been able to add professional development back in.”

During the school year, teachers have two or three days when they are in professional development and students are home. There’s also some training time during the first week of the school year.

Subs for the additional school days when teachers were in training cost the district around $1.8 million last year.

Ott said the district considered doing more online professional development, but a survey of teachers showed they much prefer face-to-face training. To limit the impact on students, teachers are expected to prepare lesson plans for their sub.

“It’s a balance that we have to be looking at, and we consider that when we’re taking teachers out of the classroom,” Ott said.

ABSENCES ABOUT AVERAGE

Teacher absenteeism in St. Paul is in line with state and national averages, according to the 2015-16 U.S. Civil Rights Data Collection.

Minnesota school districts that year reported that 31 percent of their teachers missed more than 10 days of school. The national average was 28 percent.

For both the St. Paul and Minneapolis school districts, that figure was 32 percent.

That report does not count days missed for professional development, field trips or similar school-related work.

For comparison, 25 percent of St. Paul district students missed more than 10 days of school in 2016-17.

A 2014 report on teacher attendance by the National Council on Teacher Quality noted there’s a significant negative impact on learning when teachers miss 10 school days or more. And schools that hire subs, as opposed to relying on existing building staff, tend to have more absences.

“Given the time and attention spent on school programs, new curriculum and strategies to strengthen teacher quality, we may be overlooking one of the most basic, solvable and cost-effective reasons why schools may fail to make educational progress,” the authors wrote.

St. Paul does have an attendance incentive. It allows teachers who take no more than six sick days in a year to “sell” their unused days for up to $600 in credits for health or other benefits.

TEMP CONTRACT

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The company got $1.4 million from the district for placing subs last year — 27 cents for every dollar the teachers make. The teachers, making between $130 and $140 a day, depending on experience, got $5.3 million.

Cathey, the human resources director, persuaded the school board to extend the Teachers On Call contract in June, saying district staff couldn’t do as good a job finding subs for that kind of money.

“Right now, the relationship still seems to be a cost-effective one for us,” he said.