Free Republic

$10 million spent annually by district for classroom subs... Driven by parental concerns about teacher absenteeism, the Chicago Public Schools for the first time will start scrutinizing schools with high numbers of teachers taking sick days. On any given school day in Chicago, an average of 1,500 teachers, about 6 percent of the teaching staff, call in sick or take a personal day, according to a Tribune analysis of teacher payroll records. The absentee rate is highest on Fridays, when an average of 1,800 teachers don't show... For each of the last six school years, Chicago teachers missed an average...

Urban Parental Disinterest May Cause Our Children's Educational Destruction By Kevin Fobbs March 14, 2005 Twenty three years ago, as officers in the Detroit Chapter of the National Association of Black Journalists we began to craft a way to start building a farm team of young minority journalists. But we noticed something very alarming as we worked to create the weekend journalism workshop series for those students. What we encountered was the fact that far too many young minority minds were only receiving a marginal education. Many of the young minds we were seeking to enhance were instead barely performing...