{"id":35564,"date":"2023-02-09T01:10:21","date_gmt":"2023-02-09T07:10:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/?p=35564"},"modified":"2023-02-09T01:10:21","modified_gmt":"2023-02-09T07:10:21","slug":"never-took-a-sick-day-in-seven-years-oklahoma-teacher-moms-and-the-realities-of-no-paid-maternity-leave","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2023\/02\/09\/never-took-a-sick-day-in-seven-years-oklahoma-teacher-moms-and-the-realities-of-no-paid-maternity-leave\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Never took a sick day in seven years\u2019: Oklahoma teacher moms and the realities of no paid maternity leave"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"width: 100%; height: 200px; margin-bottom: 20px; border-radius: 6px; overflow: hidden;\"><iframe style=\"width: 100%; height: 200px;\" src=\"https:\/\/player.captivate.fm\/episode\/7d60f40c-ef63-40a6-aa54-37ecbd19df7e\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\" seamless=\"\"><\/iframe><\/div><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">On a chilly Saturday morning in February, 11-week-old Luke Myers gleefully gurgled and grunted at his mother sitting next to him on the couch. That mom, Karli Myers, holds dear time like this with her baby.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Karli Myers is a first-time parent and an English teacher at Sapulpa High School. And without any sick leave left to take, Myers had to return to her classroom the previous day, cutting short her time at home with Luke.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That\u2019s because public schools in Oklahoma aren\u2019t mandated by the state to offer paid maternity leave to school faculty and staff \u2014 even though three out of four teachers in Oklahoma are women.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Oklahoma teachers wanting to have babies are relegated to few options: try to time the birth for summer break, take limited unpaid leave, hope for colleagues to share their sick leave days, or pay out-of-pocket for their own substitute teachers.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Myers said she loves being a teacher, but \u2014<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIt was really hard, leaving him and then going and spending the day with other people\u2019s kids,\u201d Myers said. \u201cYou know, you\u2019re not supposed to take a puppy away from its mother before six weeks, yet so many moms are having to do just that. And I just hate it.\u201d<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In a push to combat the state\u2019s <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/tulsaworld.com\/news\/state-and-regional\/new-statewide-survey-shows-oklahoma-teacher-shortage-growing\/article_3e2128be-34a5-11ed-813d-a7211e87e915.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">record teacher shortage<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> by attracting and retaining more educators, one bill <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2023\/01\/19\/oklahoma-senate-unveils-541-million-legislative-plan-for-education-includes-teacher-raises-charter-school-board-revamp\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">unveiled by Oklahoma Senate Republicans in January<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> seeks to give moms like Myers some relief.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><a href=\"http:\/\/webserver1.lsb.state.ok.us\/cf_pdf\/2023-24%20INT\/SB\/SB364%20INT.PDF\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Senate Bill 364<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> by Education Committee Chair Sen. Adam Pugh (R-Edmond) would mandate 12 weeks of paid maternity leave for full-time school employees. Mothers would be able to use that leave time within 12 months of the birth of their children.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Pugh said women should not, \u201chave to choose between\u2026 her career and her family.\u201d<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI\u2019d go as far as to say this is the most pro-life piece of legislation we can have this session, is to support a mother who\u2019s having a child,\u201d Pugh said. \u201cAnd then not having to step away from the workforce, but allowing them to take some time off and then step back into the workforce in an occupation that we know is critically short.\u201d<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Twelve weeks of paid leave would have been a game-changer for Myers, who saved up her sick days for seven years to be financially able to have a baby.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cSo I essentially never took a sick day in seven years of teaching to be able to account for all of this,\u201d Myers said. \u201cAnd I\u2019ve only been married for five [years], so that tells you how proactive you really have to be if you want to be paid for the time that you\u2019re off.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As the legislature mulls over measures to reel educators into Oklahoma\u2019s classrooms, StateImpact Oklahoma asked teacher moms around the state to tell their stories of navigating childbirth and postpartum life without maternity leave.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIt\u2019s just a really sad, harsh reality that not just teachers, but women everywhere, I feel like, have to deal with in this country,\u201d Myers said. \u201cThe thought of that 12 weeks maternity leave \u2014 I can\u2019t even describe to you how much of a miracle that would feel like.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><b>The case for paid maternity leave<\/b><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Tamika Auguste is a practicing OBGYN based in Washington D.C. and chairs the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) Foundation Board. She said the process of having a baby doesn\u2019t just end with delivery.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cPostpartum, there is a lot going on with the mother\u2019s body, both physiologically and mentally,\u201d Auguste said. \u201cThough childbirth is natural and it\u2019s been going on since the beginning of time, we also need to recognize the effect that it has on a woman\u2019s body.\u201d<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Auguste listed a host of complications with mothers that can arise after giving birth:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Pre-eclampsia, which is when the mother\u2019s blood pressure is elevated and proteins aren\u2019t being processed properly through her kidneys \u2014 which can lead to seizures or even strokes.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Still-healing tissue from vaginal or cesarean births.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For women with gestational diabetes or who had diabetes before getting pregnant, trouble with regulating glucose after the trauma of birth.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Postpartum depression.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Postpartum psychosis.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Time with mom immediately following delivery is also important for babies, Auguste said. If mothers are breastfeeding, it\u2019s during this time babies learn cues from their moms, and moms learn cues from their babies. It\u2019s also the point when breastfeeding problems should be addressed by lactation specialists.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And long term, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/ijccep.springeropen.com\/articles\/10.1186\/s40723-018-0041-6\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">research has found<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> the duration of maternity leave is \u201csignificantly correlated\u201d with positive mother-child reactions, leading to secure attachments, empathy, and later, academic success.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Overall, the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/journals.lww.com\/hrpjournal\/_layouts\/15\/oaks.journals\/ImageView.aspx?k=hrpjournal:2020:03000:00005&i=T1&year=2020&issue=03000&article=00005&type=Fulltext\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">data on the effects of postpartum care<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> bear out: improved physical and mental health outcomes for the mother; lower infant and maternal mortality rates; and professionally, improvements in worker morale and retention.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/pii\/S1049386717304760\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">one study<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> of women who took at least 12 weeks of leave, each additional week was associated with fewer symptoms of postpartum depression. And when comparing moms who took less than 12 weeks of paid leave against those who had more than 12 weeks, shorter leave time equated to <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/23354364?sid=primo\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">more moms with more severe depression<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And for moms like Myers, there\u2019s another major part of the conversation around mandated maternity leave \u2014 respect for the profession and the many women in it.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Though Myers had to save up her sick days to ensure her paycheck would keep coming after Luke\u2019s birth, her husband \u2014 who works for Sam\u2019s Club \u2014 automatically had six weeks of paid paternity leave. She said it felt like a \u201cdouble-edged sword\u201d \u2014 thankful he was around, but frustrated that even as a mother and a state employee, she didn\u2019t have access to paid parental leave.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI just think that\u2019s something that needs to be valued,\u201d Myers said. \u201cIf we truly, as the state of Oklahoma, are wanting to attract and retain and reward and respect teachers, [we must be] respecting them as moms.\u201d<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In a profession so overwhelmingly female, policy that \u201crespects moms\u201d extends beyond childbirth, said former high school English teacher Jennifer Williams. Williams had been teaching at her district for about a year when she became pregnant with her second child.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But Williams\u2019 pregnancy didn\u2019t go as planned, and in her second trimester, she learned she had miscarried. She remembered taking off on a Thursday or Friday, having her surgical procedure, recovering from the surgery and the loss over the weekend, and being back in the classroom Monday morning.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI felt guilty about that. And I took the least amount of time that I could,\u201d Williams said. \u201cYou keep teaching because the kids need you.\u201d<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Years later, when Williams and her husband decided to try for another child, they aimed, like many teachers do, to time the potential pregnancy for a summer birth.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Summer births may be the only financially viable option for many teachers. When Williams didn\u2019t get pregnant in that narrow window for a summer birth, she and her husband ultimately decided not to try anymore to expand their family.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When current Oklahoma City Senator and former teacher Carri Hicks had her first two children, she was able to time the births for the summer. But when a surprise pregnancy left her third child with a February due date \u2014 just a couple of months before high stakes state testing for her fourth graders \u2014 she kicked into high gear.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hicks spent all of her Christmas break putting together weeks of student assignments for her substitute to use. She found a long-term sub, but right before Hicks left, the sub had to back out, and Hicks\u2019 plans for an easy hand-off collapsed.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cEverything fell apart right at the last minute. And the sub that they had didn\u2019t even last a day \u2014 she ended up leaving one day into the assignment.\u201d Hicks said. \u201cYou know, we\u2019re transitioning with the newest member of our family, but knowing that there was somewhat of a revolving door of subs is really heartbreaking, because that\u2019s not what I wanted for them.\u201d<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Given the problems it\u2019s already dealing with, is Oklahoma\u2019s education system even robust enough to handle 12 weeks of paid maternity leave? Or could a policy like that topple our teacher-strapped schools like a house of cards?\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><b>\u2018It will be disruptive\u2019<\/b><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With state testing around the corner, Hicks came back to work after just four weeks \u2014 well before her doctor released her to return. And when she arrived, she found the \u201crevolving door\u201d of subs had left her students in a lurch.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWhen I came back to the classroom, it was clear that none of the materials had been used\u2026 all of my hard work was still sitting on the back counter. And I\u2019m thinking, \u2018What did you guys do while I was gone?\u2019\u201d Hicks said. \u201cLooking back, it\u2019s like, \u2018Well, was that my responsibility to go up to the school once a week just to check in?\u2019 You know, it shouldn\u2019t be.\u201d<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hicks said for paid maternity leave to work, schools and lawmakers are going to have to get creative. She said one solution could be implementing \u201cfloating teachers\u201d \u2014 trained and certified educators who work with students throughout the building one-on-one or in groups, and can fill in gaps with a high quality instructor when teachers go on leave.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIt will be disruptive. And given the current climate and the sub shortage that we\u2019re already facing, I can only anticipate that that will be more challenging for districts if teachers are out for a full six weeks of maternity leave,\u201d Hicks said. \u201cIt forces us to kind of confront some of the not-so-pretty pieces of education, and [say], \u2018You know, yes. We\u2019re going to invest in some additional positions just so that we\u2019re ready in case we have any teachers that are out for any extended periods of time.\u201d<\/span><\/p><p><b>\u2018Bring[ing] hope back\u2019 for Oklahoma teachers<\/b><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For Karli Myers, it will be awhile before she tries for a second child. If Luke gets sick, she said she\u2019ll take personal or emergency days so her sick leave bank doesn\u2019t deplete. And once she builds up enough sick days again \u2014 which will take at least two years \u2014 she can try for another baby.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">She said issues like fighting for maternity leave are part of the broader picture of the challenges of being a teacher in Oklahoma. To get teachers into Oklahoma classrooms, Myers said the legislature will have to address things like low pay and lack of classroom resources, and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/media\/oklahoma-education-secretary-teachers-injecting-sick-material-schools-should-be-kicked-out-profession\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">other high-profile officials have to \u201cstop villainizing teachers\u201d<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI love my job. I love being a teacher. I\u2019d love to stay in this profession, but I\u2019m just continually disheartened and depressed, actually, by so many things that are happening right now with the current climate,\u201d Myers said. \u201cI hope that this new legislative stuff that\u2019s on the line could potentially bring some hope back.\u201d<\/span><\/p><p>You can read more maternity leave stories from Oklahoma educators here:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Hey OK teachers &#8211; I&#8217;m writing a story about teacher maternity leave, & I want to hear from teachers whose lives have been impacted by lack of maternity leave. Have you had to pay for your own sub? Come back before you&#8217;re ready? Engineer family planning for a summer birth? Lmk!<\/p><p>\u2014 Beth Wallis (@walliswrites) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/walliswrites\/status\/1616178782913859584?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 19, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote><p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On a chilly Saturday morning in February, 11-week-old Luke Myers gleefully gurgled and grunted at his mother sitting next to him on the couch. That mom, Karli Myers, holds dear time like this with her baby.Karli Myers is a first-time parent and an English teacher at Sapulpa High School. And without any sick leave left [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":216,"featured_media":35566,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17,23,16],"tags":[855,1496,1520,1475,1492],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35564"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/216"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35564"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35564\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35571,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35564\/revisions\/35571"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35566"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35564"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35564"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}