ST. GEORGE, Utah — The Washington County School District is receiving backlash from some of its teachers after an email to administrators said a “mental health day” shouldn’t count as sick leave.
“Mental health is health. The fact of the matter is if you are unwell and unable to perform your job, you need to take a sick day,” said Amy Barton, president of the Washington County Educator’s Association.
Two weeks ago, the school district’s executive director of human resources sent an e-mail expressing concern over a “trend” to take a “much-needed break” referred to as a “mental health day.”
Lyle Cox warned that employees can’t use sick leave to “get away from the stresses of work and enjoy some time off.”
“It just kind of hit some teachers where it hurt because they are feeling those mental health stresses,” said Barton.
Barton said school districts have made progress tending to the mental health needs of students. When it comes to teachers, she said there could be more improvement.
“Teachers are also dealing with student trauma and that affects teachers. We take that trauma onto ourselves quite often,” she said.
A week later, Cox sent a second e-mail to all employees. He apologized that it was “not the goal to make anyone feel like their mental health was not important.” In his letter, he stood firm that staff are abusing policy “when they are not actually experiencing mental health issues.”
“I think there was appreciation that he acknowledged that the tone of the first e-mail did not help the delivery of the information,” said Barton.
Cox encouraged all employees to “prioritize mental health.”
Barton hopes this won’t stray teachers away from being open about their struggles.
“Let’s acknowledge the realities so that we can work on real solutions,” said Barton.
Read the full follow-up e-mail below:
Dear employees,
I would like to apologize for the tone of my original email about abuse of sick leave and mental health days. It was not my goal to make anyone feel like their mental health was not important, nor to hurt morale among our staff members.
My intent was to address a growing concern that has become more frequent regarding the use of sick leave for what would otherwise be a non-sick leave purpose. Simply put, some staff members are using sick or mental health days as vacation or personal leave. We understand that mental health is an important aspect of overall well-being and we fully support our employees in taking time off to prioritize their mental health. However, we have noticed that some employees have been abusing this policy by calling it a "mental health day" when they are not actually experiencing mental health issues.
We wanted to emphasize that sick leave is intended for employees who are genuinely unwell and unable to perform their job duties due to physical or mental health conditions. Calling in sick for reasons other than illness is a misuse of the policy and can have negative consequences for both the individual and the District. It can lead to increased workload and stress for other employees, decreased productivity, and can ultimately harm our ability to provide quality service to the students we serve.
We encourage all employees to prioritize their mental health and seek appropriate support when needed. We have resources available such as employee assistance programs and mental health resources through our health insurance provider and TAVA that is free for every employee, which includes temporary and part time employees. However, we ask that employees be transparent about the reason for their sick leave so that we can support them appropriately and ensure the policy is being used as intended. We will continue to audit leave requests and address those that may seem outside of intended sick leave and hope you will understand the necessity of this action.
Again, I regret that my prior email was not written carefully so as to explain and appropriately address our concerns. Please know that we do appreciate and support your efforts for our students.
Respectfully,
Lyle Cox
Executive Director, Human Resources
Washington County School District
