By Maggie Fleming
Buffalo, NY – The Buffalo teachers union is speaking out against the school district's high rate of absenteeism.
The Buffalo Teachers Federal obtained the latest absentee numbers from the district. The rates reflect the 2007-2008 and 2008-2009 school years from the elementary level, kindergarten through 6th grade.
BTF president Phil Rumore expressed his outrage during a Tuesday morning news conference in Buffalo.
"Now the number that I think is absolutely incredible is the 10% of our students are absent 35 days or more, 10%, and folks this is elementary students, can you imagine what it's like in the high schools," said Rumore.
Rumore said the high absentee rates are the main concern of teachers.
"The average student absenteeism is 17 days a year, the average student is absent 17 days, that's over three weeks of school. But what that does is it masks the fact that close to 10% of our students are absent 35 days or more," said Rumore.
The union said the school district must address this problem in order to ensure the success of its students.