Hundreds of Shawnee Mission teachers miss class the day after Chiefs win Super Bowl
More than 320 Shawnee Mission school teachers took the day off Monday after the Kansas City Chiefs won Super Bowl LIV.
District officials said they had an exceptionally high number of staff and teachers absent. “Out of 2,100 employees, as of 9:07 this morning, we had 323 sub requests,” said David Smith, spokesman for the Johson County district.
Making matters worse, the district had a difficult time finding enough substitute teachers.
Just four days earlier, Shawnee Mission teachers failed to get the contract they had been negotiating since last March. On Thursday, the school board imposed a three-year unilateral contract that teachers were not happy with.
The Kansas City Public School District ended up with about 180 teachers calling in for the day off on Monday. And that district, too, had to scramble to find substitutes.
“It caused us to have to take some out-of-the-ordinary steps to meet needs,” said Ray Weikal, a district spokesman. He said some building administrators had to step in to cover some classes.
Other districts said they did not have problems with teachers calling in on Monday. Park Hill Schools officials said the district told staff Friday, “that we had seen an increase in requests for leave, and since substitutes were less available, we might ask for more documentation than usual if staff members used their sick leave today,” said Nicole Kirby, district spokeswoman.
