Matthew DeFour and David Wahlberg
Wisconsin State Journal
12/17/2011
At least 10 doctors not previously disciplined by the state signed sick notes for Madison School District employees that the district considered fraudulent, according to a State Journal analysis of the notes submitted amid Capitol protests earlier this year.
The newspaper also found that about 570 district employees submitted sick notes for at least one of the four days in February when teacher absences forced a shutdown of school. The number presents, for the first time, a clearer picture of how many Madison employees sought an excused absence.
The documents — obtained by the newspaper Friday as part of a settlement with the district in an open records lawsuit — show that school employees sought excused absences for everything from the illness of a child and surgery to laryngitis and stress “from current governmental activities.”
More than 300 employees submitted sick notes for Feb. 16, the first day a protest closed schools, according to the analysis. That’s far more than the typical 100 absences for a day in February. For each of the other three days, between 217 and 289 employees sought excused absences…
…The district paid employees who turned in sick notes that indicated they or a family member were seen by a doctor or other medical personnel. The State Journal’s analysis suggests about seven in 10 of the absent employees turned in notes that met those criteria…
The complete article is at the Wisconsin State Journal.
