Another great piece of reporting by the WSJ's Barbara Martinez (the first of three articles), on Newark's horrific teacher absenteeism:

Poor attendance has been plaguing the beleaguered Newark schools—but the teachers are the ones missing class.

Nearly half of all Newark teachers took at least two weeks of sick leave last year, and more than a quarter of them took three weeks or more off.

The district instituted an attendance-improvement program in October, but even so about 7% of the district's teachers are absent on an average day, nearly twice the urban-district average of 4%, said Valerie Merritt, a spokeswoman for the system.

I don't know whether it's more or less shocking to learn that the vast majority of this absenteeism is PERMITTED BY THE CONTRACT! Regardless, it's infuriating and inexcusable that so many teachers (among the best paid in the country, with gold-plated benefits and ironclad job security) aren't even bothering to show up for work.

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