Jason McLaughlin Final Blog Entry

I really enjoyed hearing about how different sick days and personal days are in other districts.  I have been part of 3 school districts in my 8 years and each have been different as well.  It is something that is tied to motivation of a school and believe that a principal and superintendent could use the number of teachers gone in a year as a litmus test to how their managing is going.  I believe there are other forms of data that you could use that could tell you a little more about what is going on with your staff, but an unusually large amount of sick time being used (without an epidemic of West Nile or something hitting your area) is probably a good signal that you should look at what your building's climate is like.  Sometimes I think administrators get into their own worlds and forget to keep an eye out for morale until it is too late for them.