With growing classroom sizes and an aging, stressed-out workforce, paid sick days at the Calgary Board of Education have climbed significantly over the past five years and cost the education system more than $136.5 million over that period.
New figures obtained by the Herald show full-time public school teachers claimed 51,470 sick days in 2013, up 22 per cent from 2009 levels. Full-time non-teaching staff — everyone from support workers to administration to janitors — missed 27,627 days in 2013 due to illness, up 55 per cent from 2009.
That represents a combined estimated value of lost time of $136.5 million over that five-year period.
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This story was first published Feb. 7, 2015 in the Calgary Herald. Read the full story here.
View the interactive version here.
