Sickout or not, CCSD worker absences twice what they were 2 years ago

Hundreds of licensed Clark County School District workers called in sick on Tuesday — nearly twice many as the same day two years ago — amid rumors of an employee walkout over the COVID-19 vaccination mandate approved last week by the School Board.

The 813 employees who utilized sick days represented fewer than 5 percent of the district’s approximately 18,000 licensed employees, which include teachers. A district statement noted that employees use sick leave for a variety of reasons, including medical appointments, maternity leave and other planned leaves.

That compares to 411 licensed employees using sick leave on Sept. 3, 2019, the first school day after Labor Day that year. Unlike Tuesday, the earlier date did not coincide with the Rosh Hashana holiday.

The district didn’t disclose how many support staff, which includes school bus drivers, were absent Tuesday. Rumors on social media on Monday indicated that bus drivers planned a “sickout” on Tuesday.

Some screenshots circulated early in the day on the local CCSD Parents Facebook group showing late bus notifications from the district that some parents received, including a handful saying their child’s bus was delayed 245 minutes — or more than four hours. But others reported their bus was on time.

The district said in a Tuesday statement that it “will continue to work with the employee bargaining units to come to an agreement to support a healthy and productive work environment and culture for all,” referring to the vaccination mandate.

At recent School Board meetings — including on Thursday when the board voted to authorize Superintendent Jesus Jara to draft and implement a mandatory employee COVID-19 vaccination policy at an unknown date — several public speakers opposed to the mandate referenced a “statewide callout” scheduled for Tuesday. It’s unclear, though, who was organizing it or whether it even happened.

Jan Giles, president of the Education Support Employees Association — a union that represents support staff — said in a Tuesday statement that leaders of the union had learned of a “planned walkout” by school district employees but played no part in such a demonstration.

“ESEA would like to make clear that we did not organize or have any involvement with this planned walkout or work stoppage,” she said.

In accordance with the union’s negotiated agreement with the school district and Nevada law — which says against strikes against state or local government employers are illegal — the union “has not and will not endorse any kind of walkout or work stoppage,” Giles said.

Contact Julie Wootton-Greener at jgreener@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2921. Follow @julieswootton on Twitter.