By Brad McElhinny, WV MetroNews
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — More than half of West Virginia teachers missed more than 10 days of school last year, according to research by the state Department of Education.
Across the state, 52.75 percent of teachers missed more than 10 days, according to the research.
The prior year’s number was 52.46.
The year before that it was 51.44.
And in 2016 it was 50.83.
“The impact is that kids need to be in their classrooms and teachers need to be teaching in those classrooms for student achievement rates to go up,” state Superintendent Steve Paine said on MetroNews’ “Talkline.”
Paine said he wanted to make the point that teaching is a very challenging vocation.
“They care. It’s a hard job, and very stressful,” he said. “The second thing is, they’re missing too much school.”