In response to the D&C’s recent article on teacher absences in Greece, Margaret Mourey, our Executive Vice-President, shared the following letter with the paper’s editorial page:

“The front page article in the January 13, 2013 Democratic and Chronicle about the
teacher absence rate in the Greece Central School District was misleading and troubling.
I am a Greece teacher. It is amazing how numbers can be played, with seemingly the only
goal in mind, to disparage teachers. I wish we only suffered from illness in the summer,
but it doesn’t work that way. I got the flu in December, along with half of the staff and
students at my school. I attended school anyway (much to the dismay of the teachers I
share a room with). Teachers are not immune to illness, death or the need to take care of
family members. Does every teacher in Greece miss 16 days of school a year? Absolutely
not! However, we do have teachers who are very ill themselves (cancer), or who have
children who are seriously ill, or are caretakers for elderly parents. Those individuals do
miss, sometimes, a lot of work. Under those conditions, who wouldn’t? So you create an
average that portrays all teachers as missing an unreasonable amount of days at work.
Ms. McDermott, maybe you could put your investigative skills to work and uncover
some of the great things Greece teachers do, every day, all year.”

Margaret Mourey
Executive Vice-President
Greece Teachers Association