An effort to reduce teacher absences at Methuen High is off to a bad start, as the school has already exhausted its budget for second quarter substitutes due to the high number of sick days being taken.
This year, school officials switched from an annual budget for substitute teachers to a quarterly one, hoping teachers would be less likely to call out sick if they knew the school might not have enough money for a replacement.
So far, that strategy hasn't worked. The school's 151 teachers used 223 days for sick time, bereavement, jury duty and personal time between the start of the second quarter on Nov. 9 and Dec. 11, according to district Business Administrator Glenn Fratto. The quarter runs through Jan. 22.
Last year, Methuen High budgeted $40,000 for the entire school year for substitute teachers, Fratto said. But they wound up spending $46,376.
To keep from going over budget again, school administrators allocated $40,000 for the year, but asked the principal to stay within quarterly $10,000 targets. But less than a month into the second quarter, the school had already spent $11,075 on substitutes. Methuen substitutes are paid about $60 per day.
"This is a tough year because of the flu business," Superintendent Jeanne Whitten said, referencing the high number of H1N1 cases schools have been seeing so far this year.
But other area schools say the H1N1 virus has had little impact on teacher absences.
"The principals haven't told me about a crisis," Haverhill Superintendent Raleigh Buchanan said.
"The attendance of our teachers has not been an issue this year," added Salem, N.H., Superintendent Michael Delahanty.
Lawrence also reported no problems with staffing, because its schools employ full-time substitutes.
"We did have a bunch of flu-like illnesses in late October, early November," acting Superintendent Mary Lou Bergeron said. "But we don't have the day-to-day issues because they're already part of the school faculty."
The budget situation in Methuen has caused the high school to only call in substitutes if it's absolutely necessary.
"If there's an issue of safety ... we will call a substitute," Whitten told School Committee members last week.
Otherwise, school officials said, other teachers fill in on their free periods when their colleagues are out sick.
That system has its benefits, school Principal Jim Giuca said.
"What they're (students) getting is a certified teacher and a teacher who knows the school," he said. "The teacher will pick up the lesson plan and go with it."
But some parents are concerned about the lack of substitute teachers.
Paul Downing's son, Paul Jr., is a junior at Methuen High and takes all advanced placement and honors classes. He said students like his son won't have problems because they are motivated to work, no matter what.
But he said students in lower level classes might have problems.
"I certainly think it's going to impact the kids that need the guidance," Downing said.
The high school is continuing to pay for long-term substitutes filling in for teachers on maternity leave or out for extended illnesses, Giuca said.
Methuen's four other schools were given $28,000 for the entire school year — $7,000 per quarter — and they haven't run into the problem that Methuen High has.
Last year, so many teachers called in sick that the school district went about $52,000 over budget for daily substitutes, forcing school officials to scale back on the number of substitutes they used toward the end of the year.
Whitten said the point of this year's budgeting system was to allow teachers to see the impact of calling in sick sooner in the year and give them added incentive to show up for work.
Methuen High will have money available for substitutes again when the next quarter starts up on Jan. 25. Giuca said he is allowed to dip into next quarter's budget if he needs to bring in any more substitutes this term.
Staff writers Paul Tennant and Jarret Bencks contributed to this report.
