Teachers shoulder a very heavy burden in our world. That burden, of educating and guiding the lives of our children, is compounded by the lack of respect given to them by those in power. Anti-labor attitudes, most concentrated in the Republican Party, affect teachers profoundly and most obviously in how little they are paid, on average. Support for teachers is inconsistent.
Palm Beach Florida teacher Robert Goodman has been enduring treatments for colon cancer. The 56-year-old, 23-year veteran history teacher at Palm Beach Gardens Community High School was diagnosed in April. After surgery and the beginning of chemotherapy treatments, he had run out of his paid sick leave. Full-time teachers in Palm Beach Florida start the school year with four sick days—subsequently accumulating one full sick day every month as the year progresses. Teachers can bank these sick days over time. Goodman had banked quite a bit over time but had used a bunch the previous year due to illness. He didn’t have enough to cover all of the chemotherapy he would be receiving. He wouldn’t be able to pull in a paycheck for months.
At the end of July, Goodman was at the end of his rope—he could see how he would be able to make it through his cancer treatments and be out a paycheck. Working was not an option as the chemotherapy treatments were “debilitating.” He went to his Facebook page and posted a selfie shot of him during a chemotherapy treatment in Tomsich Health and Medical Center of Palm Beach County, and asked for help, writing:
Urgent Help Now: Battling Cancer Chemo : I work at Pal Beach Gardens High School -I’m looking into catastrophic leave of absence by the school district but I’m short 20 days sick days to qualify for that. Already used 38 days this year already which is all I had left as I was sick a couple years ago and used about two weeks. if I can get 20 more sick days from any teacher or district employee volunteers that would allow me to take more time to recover in battle through chemo for 12 weeks which should be enough time for me to complete at least the treatment so if any of my teacher friends are out there spread the word for me I would appreciate it thank you so much. You can email Human Resources to Juan.diaz@palmbeachschools.org to donate. If not I’ll be reporting back to work on August 6 and I will never have another opportunity to apply for the leave of absence. Thank you all either way for your support during this time in my life.
In just four days, Goodman have received enough sick days from fellow educators and staff to cover an entire semester at school—75 days, to be exact.
"Educators all over the country were reaching out to me to donate their sick days, even professors over at Florida Atlantic University," he said. "I felt guilty because I knew there were people who had it much worse than me."
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"I wasn't surprised that teachers were giving. Teachers are always giving all the time," he said. " When one of their own needs help they'll always step up.
Teachers are heroes. Goodman knows intimately what those sick days meant for some of those fellow teachers.
"They could have cashed those days in when they retired if they didn't use them. They were in a sense giving me their retirement money to help me heal.”
One of the reasons Republicans try to run out the game clock on federal paid sick leave legislation, even though it has tremendous public support, is that it is just the beginning of what American workers and professionals want—and need. No one wants to have to leave work for an extended period of time in order to have chemotherapy. And no one should have to “donate” their sick leave to help someone else who happens to be in worse health.
There are a variety of reasons that Republicans are having their asses handed to them in elections across the country. Teachers, like the rest of America’s working force, are tired of the the status quo. After watching our billionaire leadership, with all of the fancy education opportunities their wealth afforded them, screw everything up, educators everywhere know it’s time to shoulder yet another burden and take this country back.
All told, Mr. Goodman has received 100 days of sick leave from teachers and other school staff. This will allow him to recover until January of 2019. You can watch a short video that Robert Goodman made through the Palm Beach Report, thanking his fellow teachers and others, below the fold.