John McLoughlin, a veteran "reporter" for News Channel 10, an ABC affiliate in the Albany, New York area, recently reported that "17 percent" of Albany school teachers were absent on Friday, April 27. Actually, if he had said it that way, it may have been a report, but he didn't. Instead he said that Albany teachers had a "sick out," and he then editorialized erroneously about teacher workdays and pay.
Among the inaccuracies and inuendos in the report, the thing that disgusted me the most was the source of the attack: Since when does a reporter who works for a few minutes a day reading words on a tele-prompter get to comment on the working hours of people who actually serve the public? It seems downright insolent that someone who gets paid six figures and does so very little for the public good, especially in a time of war, could comment on the wages and hours of public servants who, relative to others with similar academic credentials, get paid so little. I was so disgusted by the "report" that I barely know where to begin, so, to be concise, I will itemize some corrections for some of the major inaccuracies:
Correction #1: "Sick out" is a labor term descibing an illegal strike. News 10 reported absenses as a "sick out" without any qualification or indication that this was in fact a strike. That is extremely sloppy reporting. In fact, it seems libelous to accuse a group of people of committing a crime without even adding "alleged" as is the standard. Further, the ones typically doing the accusing are the authorities, not the reporters. WTEN may be facing a defamation suit.
Correction #2: Teachers are contractually obligated by the State to work at least 180 days, not 176 as reported, and school districts schedule at least 185 days to account for snow days. Most districts do not subtract the extra five days if no snow days are used. In addition, teachers are NOT paid for the summer nor are they eligible for unemployment insurance like other seasonal workers such as construction workers who routinely collect unemployment insurance throughout the late fall and winter. (You NEVER hear people complaining that their state taxes are high because contractors "fire" their workers in the fall so they will be eligible for unemployment benefits, then rehire them in the spring.) Even baseball players are eligible for unemployment during the off-season. Many (if not most) teachers have a second job during their off season: summer.
Correction #3: Most districts require conferences and professional development thus creating the need for more substitutes. This was not reported.
Correction #4: No teacher in the history of teaching has ever been paid $23,000 for unused sick days (as reported). The reason why teachers accumulate sick days is because there is no disability insurance protection. The sick days are in place of disability insurance. Furthermore, these sick day accumulations are capped. They do not accumulate endlessly as implied by the "report."
Query: What are John McLoughlin's hours? How much does he make? What kind of car does he drive? And lastly, where did he go to Journalism school? (I need to know which institution my students should avoid.)
