One of my biggest gripes has always been that despite all the griping I hear; public school teachers are actually paid far too much. One reason is because they don't do their jobs. From this article about gays "calling in gay" to work yesterday, I saw this little tidbit:

Scott Craig, a fifth-grade teacher at Independence Charter School in Philadelphia, had no problem requesting and being granted the day off. So many of the school's 60 teachers were eager to show support for gay rights they had to make sure enough stayed behind to staff classrooms.

About 25 teachers plan to take Wednesday off and to have their work covered by substitutes while they discuss ways to introduce gay issues to their students and volunteer at the local branch of the American Civil Liberties Union, Craig said. A letter telling parents why so many teachers would be out went home Monday.

"We want to get the conversation going in the community that gay is not bad," Craig said. "For kids to hear that in a positive light can be life-changing."

Can't imagine why American students are so far behind internationally. Wish this was an uncommon kind of thing.