Here's one that will make most hearts bleed, and leave others scratching their head over the lack of common sense in application of employment policies.
From The Washington Post, Metro section, Monday, January 10, 2005.
Loudoun Teacher With Cancer Forced Out
Educator New to District Is Told to Resign or Face Firing After She Uses Up (10 - that's right, ten) Sick Days
By Michael Laris
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, January 10, 2005; Page B03
The students in Alison Yowell's seventh-grade English class made stickers of support when she told them she had just learned her cancer had returned.
"They wrote on the sticker someone they knew who died of cancer -- or who survived cancer," said Yowell, who wore the emblems on her T-shirt in a fundraising walk before returning them to the students, many of whom stuck them to their notebooks.
But top Loudoun County Public Schools officials, Yowell said, have had a less compassionate response to her Hodgkin's disease: They forced her from her job.
The case has focused attention on a school district whose leaders often cite the difficulty of recruiting enough qualified teachers to serve students in the nation's fastest-growing county.
Patsy Layer, director of the Loudoun Education Association, which represents teachers, said school administrators notified Yowell that she must resign, or face firing, because she had used all her sick days. As a recent hire, Yowell was ineligible to request leave without pay.
Layer recommended that Yowell, 31, resign before being terminated to avoid marring her teaching record. She submitted her resignation last week, effective today.
"In a case similar to this, we would always offer the opportunity to resign so there is no sense they are being 'fired.' Their record would be clear," said Loudoun School Superintendent Edgar B. Hatrick III.
Critics said Yowell's treatment is a reflection of rigid leave policies heartlessly applied, and they warned that it could hurt efforts to hire top talent in the Washington region's highly competitive market for teachers. School officials said the uniform application of personnel rules is a cornerstone of management that benefits the system and its students.
Yowell said she knew Loudoun policies when she was hired.
"I know what they've done is completely legal," Yowell said. "I don't feel this policy is ethical."
School Board member Priscilla B. Godfrey (Blue Ridge), who chairs the committee that oversees personnel issues, said the district views matters differently.
"As an employer, you have to watch out for yourself," Godfrey said. "To her, it would be an unethical result. But legally, if you have a policy on your books, everyone is treated the same, and everybody has to toe the line, whatever that line may be. Otherwise, it's not a policy."
In September, doctors told Yowell, whose cancer was declared in remission in early 2004, that her cancer had returned.
"The doctors had been pretty confident I would not have to deal with this again," Yowell said. "Unfortunately, they are not always right."
She began taking days off for preliminary treatment. Once she used up the 10 annual sick days allotted to teachers in her position, as well as three personal days, school officials told her she'd be asked to resign, she said.
In November, Yowell requested a four-month leave without pay for a debilitating course of medical treatment that would leave her vulnerable to infection. She volunteered to keep preparing lesson plans and grading papers while receiving her chemotherapy drips and stem cell transplants.
But Loudoun officials, citing Yowell's recent hiring -- she started in August -- said no. According to district policy, employees must be on the job for 90 days to be eligible for unpaid leave. "This requirement has not been met resulting in a denial of your request," wrote Assistant Superintendent Sue Hurd.
... more at linked article
This one just makes me scratch my head. I don't know the lady, so I don't know if she's a good teacher or not, but I have to imagine that if she was hired, she impressed people well enough to get the job.
Granted, she's got a debilitating illness, and has asked for an extended leave from work, but it's WITHOUT PAY, and I would assume without benefits, and that leaves me trying to figure out why you wouldn't want to grant the leave.
I also understand the rules regarding the leave bank, and understand the safeguards that had to be built into the system to prevent abuse, but that also seems to be the right approach for a situation such as this.
I wish all the best for Ms. Yowell. I sincerely hope she makes it through the next round of treatment, and that she's able to go on to much bigger and better things.
