Letter: On pandemic sick days for teachers

Gov. Pritzker signed House Bill 1167 into law, where all teachers get paid for their absence from school if they state any connection to COVID. These extra days off will be allowed when a teacher calls in and says they have COVID or have been in the company of someone who had COVID. Boom! Ten days off.

This free time will be allowed when a teacher wants extra days off and says she was in the company of an individual who had COVID like symptoms. Boom! Ten days off.

And, this extra time off will not count toward their already generous sick time.

And, any teacher who took time off for any COVID-related sick days in the past will have those sick days returned to them. Remember, when a teacher retires, they are allowed to cash in a certain amount of sick days for cash.

No other unionized group in Illinois is allowed this generous amount of free time costing the taxpayers millions of dollars. Is this a rational move, or a political payback for a union that votes Democratic on a regular basis?

This should disturb every decent taxpayer in this state.

Larry Casey

Huntley