School Board VP Speaks Out about Teacher Absences

As Montgomery Public Schools officials craft their response to State Superintendent Michael Sentance, School Board Vice President Lesa Keith is speaking out about one problem directly affecting students.

Keith says there are serious teacher attendance issues with many teachers not showing up to work because of discipline problems with students.

“We’ve got teachers that are missing 30, 40, 50 days and that has got to stop,” she explained.

Keith says this is happening at many schools including Bellingrath Middle, Peter Crump Elementary and Lee High School.

Parents and students at Bellingrath know these issues firsthand, but some don’t understand why teachers are not showing up to work.

“Not really because they have security that is around the school,” shared parent Eliza Mitchell, “the security is in the school 24 hours a day.”

Keith says she hopes the possible takeover will fix this problem soon.

“We’ve got to take those few bad apples and send a message,” Keith said, “and we’ve got to send a message to those teachers as well.”