Teachers have to have almost perfect attendance in class because their role in students’ lives is important. Things get all jumbled and confusing when subs take over.
Now being out for an extended amount of time can be even more difficult.
Some teachers in Lakeland High School (LHS) have had to take an extended leave of absence for injuries that occurred outside of school.
The first one being Shannon Hall, who had to have a Lumbar fusion because her 5th and 6th disk were out of place. She is still recovering since her surgery was only a few weeks ago.
She was out of work for about a week and a half but has been recovering for almost three weeks now.
Luckily her lesson plan was easy for a sub to follow since all of her students were doing independent work. She also managed it by having herself available over email for any questions her students may have.
She now is walking around with a back brace on to help. She spends most of her time in class sitting because she cannot stand for very long due to the pain, and at the end of the day the pain is already uncomfortable to manage, Hall explained.
“It is a struggle for me because I do not enjoy doing nothing,” Hall said.
Another teacher who has had to deal with injury at work is Allison Knoll. She hurt her calf playing kickball against other teachers at LHS. She ended up being on crutches but those were quickly exchanged for a scooter because she could not get anywhere in a timely manner on crutches.
“My physical therapist told me that the reason I hurt it is because I wear high heels all the time,” Knoll said.
Which she missed during her time of recovery. If you know anything about Mrs. Knoll is that she loves shoes, especially high heels. Therefore, her not being able to wear her statement shoes was devastating to her.
Another teacher at our high school who has experienced an injury is Nicholas Haynes.
However, this one is more of a comical story. He was out sledding with his sons at Cherry hill, went over a jump and landed on his back on the sled.
After about a year he finally got surgery on it where they did a microinstruction on his lower back.
He luckily had this over christmas break but he was still sore from the surgery afterwards but returning to work was not as rough for him.
The last teacher highlighted on injuries is Shannon Mattila, who had knee surgery. She tore her ACL while skiing last year. She had her surgery over spring break and was in a knee brace when she returned.
“I was scared of going in the hallway during passing period because I didn’t want a student to kick my leg so I would only leave my classroom when everyone was already in class,” Mattila said.
Returning to school after was fine but coaching on top was a little more difficult. Since she could not run.
