Absent Teachers Risk Costing American Schools $4 Billion a Year
- NYC, Chicago and Connecticut districts saw more teachers out
- Increased absenteeism among staff can harm student outcomes
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Las Vegas sits in one of the nation’s largest school districts that employs a small army of teachers - over 17,000 positions. On an average day last year, nearly a quarter of them weren’t in class.
Since returning from virtual education during the pandemic, teacher attendance in Clark County, and statewide, has sunk to the lowest in more than a decade, according to data from the Nevada Department of Education. It’s a problem that’s worsened across the country, from East Coast school districts in New York and Connecticut to Chicago. On any given day, as many as 10% of teachers don’t make it into the classroom, according to staffing firm Kelly Services Inc., citing its data from 40 states. That’s up from 6% during the Covid pandemic.