Elk Grove schools scramble to staff classes during apparent teacher sickout
dlambert@sacbee.com
PUBLISHED WEDNESDAY, FEB. 15, 2012
Sheldon High School sophomore Brandon Galarpe watched movies most of the day Friday under the watchful eyes of substitutes. Only his Spanish teacher had showed up to work.
The school was the hardest hit in what appears to be a teacher sickout in protest of a proposal by Elk Grove Unified to cap its contribution to medical premiums at the 2010 level.
In all, 351 of the district's 3,400 teachers called in sick, said Elizabeth Graswich, district spokeswoman. Usually about 285 teachers are absent in the district on any given day.
Parent Jeannie Garlarpe says she wasn't aware of the unauthorized job action until she picked her son up after school Friday. She said he called it "a wasted day."
She isn't angry about the teacher sickout, saying she would be upset too if her employer proposed a health care cap. "I commend them for their job," Garlarpe said. "They go to school and get the educational background and work very hard. They prepare our kids for the future and, quite frankly, they don't get paid enough."
Graswich said the high number of absences could be explained by the three-day weekend, which usually raises the number. She said there were 330