Personal Days
When I started teaching in West Virginia, we were given three personal days each school year. If I remember correctly, we could "save" a maximum of five, and then we lost whatever we had over that. I made it a habit of using any personal days that I had in surplus over those 5 days. Our surplus days didn't roll over into sick days then, they just vanished. I always felt that if you didn't use that benefit, you were short-changing yourself. After all, we sure as heck didn't make much money in those days. My starting salary in 1983 was $14,000. To me, those personal days were part of my salary that shouldn't be wasted. I got into the habit of taking a personal day or two each year. I found that a well-placed day off - especially during that long stretch from January to April usually meant that I got some rest and that my kids were getting a better teacher when I came back. Then, fifteen years into my career we moved to North Carolina. Here in North Carolina,