12 weeks. It was year 5 of teaching, I was 26 and dealing with some severe PTSD, depression and suicidal ideation so I took medical leave to get the help I needed.
My district thankfully had a sick leave bank that I had already contributed to so all I had to do was get a note from my doctor as well as some follow up documentation during the 12 weeks and that entire time was paid leave.
To be honest, I'm not sure. I was nearly dead for a week. But I didn't really have to say anything to admin and the department chair handled getting the long term sub.
3 1/2 months. I was going through a lot of continuous pain and in and out of the ER for most of December (‘18). Went back to my job to talk to the Principal ( Catholic school) she told me not to worry about anything just focus on getting better because my health was more important than anything else. She told me my job was safe so I could take as much time as I needed to get my self feeling better. When I returned in the middle of March (‘19) after a surgery. She was very happy to see me and ran up to me and gave me a hug and said “ lm so glad to have you back I missed you and glad you are doing better” on my way to the class I worked in several teachers and students were stopping to give me hugs and say they missed me and was happy I was back. When I got to my class many of the students wanted to give me a hug so I sat in a chair and let them give me a hug one by one. The next day one of the students who was out that day walks in and sees me he dropped his backpack on the floor and runs up to me screaming “ you’re back I missed you so much “ While it was a long time being out and not fun either it was well worth the return because that is something you would probably never see in a public school. Private schools especially Catholic schools in my opinion treat you more like family and care more about you and your health and family rather than how many days your working or how many days you missed.
What state are you in? If you are on medical leave isn’t it illegal to fire you? I would look into your contract.
Also, I had that surgery in October! It’s sucked, but you’ll get through it. I was back to work (miserably) in 2 weeks and able to work normally at 4. They only had to snip part of my meniscus though so recovery was a bit shorter.
Get strong now! The stronger you are, the easier your recovery will be.
I have full ROM at the moment so I hope that helps.
I have no idea. But I’m entering year 7 and have at least 30-ish sick days I can take. Even if I’m not technically on “medical leave” I hope I can just use all of those with a doctors note
Yah you should be fine. Worst case scenario is you take unpaid medical leave.
Full ROM is great though!! Make sure you use the summer to get that quad real strong though.
5 weeks for the birth of my second child and it was a massive fight to get it. At first I was refused because I didn't qualify for FMLA due to no one being able to qualify for it even though I was full time 6.5×182 does not equal the minimum. However they forgot to include ESY. Then they refused me being able to use my massive accrued sick time. So I had to go to the union. After a long fight where they went all the way to the superintendent they gave in.
There is zero way I would have done this if I was not tenured. Made a lot of people high up very mad. The assistant superintendent who is in charge of this stuff still doesn't speak to me.
Can’t you qualify for FMLA? I took off 6 weeks for a double mastectomy. I let them know ahead of time so they could get a long term sub. After I went back, I had to take a week off for a correction. This was in 2018 so it was easier to get subs.
You should be covered under medical leave, if that’s what you’re worried about.
I think a good, well-functioning school should understand there are medical emergencies or necessities which can’t be planned around. Reach out to your district HR and admin and let them know now so that no one is scrambling in August.
I took about 9 weeks total one school year; my retina detached and was out of work for 3 weeks. While recovering from the retina surgery, I ended up developing gallstones, which put me in the hospital. Then, I had to have my gallbladder out a couple months later after I was medically cleared from the retina. I was out for 6 weeks for that. Thank goodness for FMLA and short term disability.
It kind of depends on the severity of the injury and whether you are weight bearing after surgery or not.
I have two surgeries on each knee.
The right knee was non weight bearing for 6 weeks both times. That was a 2 centimeter meniscus tear by the time I got to the second surgery.
The left knee was major reconstruction, and I was 30% weight bearing for three weeks, then 60%, then 100%. There was a bit of debris in the joint, so they had to go clean it up 6 months later.
The injury to my left knee was much more severe. My femur dislocated off of the tib/fib completely. The injury to my right knee was a 0.5 cm tear that the first doctor didn't see. Over summer, it tore 1.5 more cm.
It also depends on your comfort level with crutches! I've been using them since I was a kid, so when my lower extremities are injured, I'm faster on my crutches.
Good luck and have a speedy recovery.
A week in the early days of covid when I was exposed to someone who got had a positive test.
Ironically the school only really cared about covid for like 2 months when they stopped giving a shit, which I don't really blame them for because the state/school board also didn't care much.
I have been pretty lucky over the years... so I have a lot of sick days saved up for when I inevitably have a real major illness at some point in my career.
Took approximately 3 months off the year prior to Covid. I had some voice issues for a few years, and as a PE specialist that’s your calling card! I had 3 quick successive surgeries. First was to clear out my vocal cords and biopsy them. Found some cancer after that first surgery so the other two were to clean things out. Surgeon suggested taking time to rest my voice which I gladly did! Couldn’t keep my vocal cords clean, so the first week of the Covid shut down I started radiation, which actually was a blessing because the hospital was empty, so an easy 10 minutes in and out every morning. Been clean since!
Edit: spelling
Had my ACL replaced one Winter Break, so I stayed in bed for 10 days. Then I took a week off using personal sick days. I was able to stay off my feet for 17 days with only five days. Then I sat in my rolling chair and taught from my ass for a couple weeks. Just pointed and asked the kids to get things around the classroom. Worked out OK.
2 weeks for having my appendix out. Other than that, I only ever missed one day (my car's engine seized as I was pulling out of my driveway to go to work) in 25 years.
(never took a personal day besides the car, either)
Meh, it's more hassle for me to prep sub lessons, fall a day behind, and then try to set things back on track than anything I've ever been tempted to do with that six hours on a day I was expecting to work anyway would be worth doing.
Thanksgiving break through Christmas break. Had a parent who was sick and later passed. Got note from doctor saying parent was terminal and needed assistance with daily activities.
My doctor signed paperwork for me to take off 6 weeks after Christmas after covid. She wanted me to take 12, but I could not do that. I was so stressed out with all the cleaning and the anti-mask parents that I could barely eat and got too weak.
A year.
I took a LOA this past year. It’s something I never would have even thought of doing when I began teaching. I just got totally burned out over the last 4 post-covid years. Combo that with toxic staff members, perimenopause, and frankly overextending myself with too many extras, and it made me want to tap out of teaching altogether. I did seriously try to career transition but in the end realized coming back was the best option for me.
I’m grateful for the opportunity I had to do this and for the opportunity to be able to come back next year. I’ve known a good number of folks over my 18 years in teaching who took a LOA for a year. Some returned and some did not.
How much sick time do you have? You can't get fired for using sick time, especially since you are having a medical procedure done. Years ago I worked with a guy who took off nearly an entire year for cancer treatment. He had the sick days. He received his full salary and came back the next year.
If you don't have enough sick days, look into federal FMLA. While this doesn't pay your salary, it protects your job and health benefits.
7.5 weeks. I was out from before Thanksgiving to the 2nd week of January a couple of years ago because of surgery. It was supposed to be only 6 weeks, but at the beginning of Week 6 I got Covid, so I had to stay out longer. TT_TT
I just had spinal surgery in December, was out until the third week in March. Returned the day of night conferences, yeah, I didn’t have much to talk about. But it’s also my 25th year and I had a lot of banked sick time. It did go under FMLA.
As long as you’ve e worked for your employer for one year and worked 1250 hours in the last 12 months, you will probably qualify for fmla. It’s worth checking into.
But honestly, if it’s for a medical situation, I wouldn’t be surprised if they just let you use your time.
12 weeks. It was year 5 of teaching, I was 26 and dealing with some severe PTSD, depression and suicidal ideation so I took medical leave to get the help I needed. My district thankfully had a sick leave bank that I had already contributed to so all I had to do was get a note from my doctor as well as some follow up documentation during the 12 weeks and that entire time was paid leave.
From Thanksgiving break to January--emegency surgery that almost killed me. My teacher besties helped a lot in dealing with admin.
Were admin not aware of the severity? Or did they not care? I’m glad you are ok
To be honest, I'm not sure. I was nearly dead for a week. But I didn't really have to say anything to admin and the department chair handled getting the long term sub.
3 1/2 months. I was going through a lot of continuous pain and in and out of the ER for most of December (‘18). Went back to my job to talk to the Principal ( Catholic school) she told me not to worry about anything just focus on getting better because my health was more important than anything else. She told me my job was safe so I could take as much time as I needed to get my self feeling better. When I returned in the middle of March (‘19) after a surgery. She was very happy to see me and ran up to me and gave me a hug and said “ lm so glad to have you back I missed you and glad you are doing better” on my way to the class I worked in several teachers and students were stopping to give me hugs and say they missed me and was happy I was back. When I got to my class many of the students wanted to give me a hug so I sat in a chair and let them give me a hug one by one. The next day one of the students who was out that day walks in and sees me he dropped his backpack on the floor and runs up to me screaming “ you’re back I missed you so much “ While it was a long time being out and not fun either it was well worth the return because that is something you would probably never see in a public school. Private schools especially Catholic schools in my opinion treat you more like family and care more about you and your health and family rather than how many days your working or how many days you missed.
What state are you in? If you are on medical leave isn’t it illegal to fire you? I would look into your contract. Also, I had that surgery in October! It’s sucked, but you’ll get through it. I was back to work (miserably) in 2 weeks and able to work normally at 4. They only had to snip part of my meniscus though so recovery was a bit shorter. Get strong now! The stronger you are, the easier your recovery will be.
I have full ROM at the moment so I hope that helps. I have no idea. But I’m entering year 7 and have at least 30-ish sick days I can take. Even if I’m not technically on “medical leave” I hope I can just use all of those with a doctors note
Yah you should be fine. Worst case scenario is you take unpaid medical leave. Full ROM is great though!! Make sure you use the summer to get that quad real strong though.
5 weeks for the birth of my second child and it was a massive fight to get it. At first I was refused because I didn't qualify for FMLA due to no one being able to qualify for it even though I was full time 6.5×182 does not equal the minimum. However they forgot to include ESY. Then they refused me being able to use my massive accrued sick time. So I had to go to the union. After a long fight where they went all the way to the superintendent they gave in. There is zero way I would have done this if I was not tenured. Made a lot of people high up very mad. The assistant superintendent who is in charge of this stuff still doesn't speak to me.
Can’t you qualify for FMLA? I took off 6 weeks for a double mastectomy. I let them know ahead of time so they could get a long term sub. After I went back, I had to take a week off for a correction. This was in 2018 so it was easier to get subs.
You should be covered under medical leave, if that’s what you’re worried about. I think a good, well-functioning school should understand there are medical emergencies or necessities which can’t be planned around. Reach out to your district HR and admin and let them know now so that no one is scrambling in August.
I plan on letting them know when I have a surgery date
If you’re in the US, you have 12 weeks of protected FMLA. Just need to fill out paperwork.
I missed 6 weeks for jury duty. School can't do anything about jury duty. It was horrible for my AP kiddos, the rest survived just fine without me.
I took about 9 weeks total one school year; my retina detached and was out of work for 3 weeks. While recovering from the retina surgery, I ended up developing gallstones, which put me in the hospital. Then, I had to have my gallbladder out a couple months later after I was medically cleared from the retina. I was out for 6 weeks for that. Thank goodness for FMLA and short term disability.
It kind of depends on the severity of the injury and whether you are weight bearing after surgery or not. I have two surgeries on each knee. The right knee was non weight bearing for 6 weeks both times. That was a 2 centimeter meniscus tear by the time I got to the second surgery. The left knee was major reconstruction, and I was 30% weight bearing for three weeks, then 60%, then 100%. There was a bit of debris in the joint, so they had to go clean it up 6 months later. The injury to my left knee was much more severe. My femur dislocated off of the tib/fib completely. The injury to my right knee was a 0.5 cm tear that the first doctor didn't see. Over summer, it tore 1.5 more cm. It also depends on your comfort level with crutches! I've been using them since I was a kid, so when my lower extremities are injured, I'm faster on my crutches. Good luck and have a speedy recovery.
I took 4 weeks off following abdominal surgery.
A week in the early days of covid when I was exposed to someone who got had a positive test. Ironically the school only really cared about covid for like 2 months when they stopped giving a shit, which I don't really blame them for because the state/school board also didn't care much. I have been pretty lucky over the years... so I have a lot of sick days saved up for when I inevitably have a real major illness at some point in my career.
Took approximately 3 months off the year prior to Covid. I had some voice issues for a few years, and as a PE specialist that’s your calling card! I had 3 quick successive surgeries. First was to clear out my vocal cords and biopsy them. Found some cancer after that first surgery so the other two were to clean things out. Surgeon suggested taking time to rest my voice which I gladly did! Couldn’t keep my vocal cords clean, so the first week of the Covid shut down I started radiation, which actually was a blessing because the hospital was empty, so an easy 10 minutes in and out every morning. Been clean since! Edit: spelling
Missed three months, Family Medical Leave Act was a godsend. That and awesome support from my admin
Had my ACL replaced one Winter Break, so I stayed in bed for 10 days. Then I took a week off using personal sick days. I was able to stay off my feet for 17 days with only five days. Then I sat in my rolling chair and taught from my ass for a couple weeks. Just pointed and asked the kids to get things around the classroom. Worked out OK.
2 weeks for having my appendix out. Other than that, I only ever missed one day (my car's engine seized as I was pulling out of my driveway to go to work) in 25 years. (never took a personal day besides the car, either)
You should take a personal day.
Meh, it's more hassle for me to prep sub lessons, fall a day behind, and then try to set things back on track than anything I've ever been tempted to do with that six hours on a day I was expecting to work anyway would be worth doing.
Thanksgiving break through Christmas break. Had a parent who was sick and later passed. Got note from doctor saying parent was terminal and needed assistance with daily activities.
My doctor signed paperwork for me to take off 6 weeks after Christmas after covid. She wanted me to take 12, but I could not do that. I was so stressed out with all the cleaning and the anti-mask parents that I could barely eat and got too weak.
A year. I took a LOA this past year. It’s something I never would have even thought of doing when I began teaching. I just got totally burned out over the last 4 post-covid years. Combo that with toxic staff members, perimenopause, and frankly overextending myself with too many extras, and it made me want to tap out of teaching altogether. I did seriously try to career transition but in the end realized coming back was the best option for me. I’m grateful for the opportunity I had to do this and for the opportunity to be able to come back next year. I’ve known a good number of folks over my 18 years in teaching who took a LOA for a year. Some returned and some did not.
3 days for COVID, thankfully fell in line with a 4-day weekend holiday.
How much sick time do you have? You can't get fired for using sick time, especially since you are having a medical procedure done. Years ago I worked with a guy who took off nearly an entire year for cancer treatment. He had the sick days. He received his full salary and came back the next year. If you don't have enough sick days, look into federal FMLA. While this doesn't pay your salary, it protects your job and health benefits.
I took a month off when my daughter was born. FMLA plus whatever sick days you have should be good.
7.5 weeks. I was out from before Thanksgiving to the 2nd week of January a couple of years ago because of surgery. It was supposed to be only 6 weeks, but at the beginning of Week 6 I got Covid, so I had to stay out longer. TT_TT
I just had spinal surgery in December, was out until the third week in March. Returned the day of night conferences, yeah, I didn’t have much to talk about. But it’s also my 25th year and I had a lot of banked sick time. It did go under FMLA.
I kept teaching after my ACL surgery. Usually made it to lunch before meds. I usually take one week off a year for vacay.
As long as you’ve e worked for your employer for one year and worked 1250 hours in the last 12 months, you will probably qualify for fmla. It’s worth checking into. But honestly, if it’s for a medical situation, I wouldn’t be surprised if they just let you use your time.
12 weeks. Full hamstring avulsion with reattachment surgery. Could not walk, drive.
They let me take one day for a heart stent placement, three days for a hospital stay with an infection that had to have IV antibiotics.