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Franklin teacher tells board attendance errors and new workload plans are harming students and staff
Summary
A Franklin High engineering teacher told trustees that lost attendance forms, lenient tardy coding and a plan to require non‑core teachers to teach an additional class without extra pay are damaging instruction, morale and district finances.
An engineering teacher at Franklin High School told the El Paso ISD Board of Trustees during the public‑comment period that a series of attendance‑coding problems and a proposed schedule change for non‑core teachers are harming students and district finances.
Michelle Barazek, who identified herself as an engineering teacher at Franklin, said she brought the board a copy of a letter warning that her daughter could be placed on a 45‑day attendance plan despite “consistent communication” from the teacher and multiple supporting emails. Barazek told trustees she and colleagues had submitted attendance agreements that were lost in the office and that the district’s current process sends warning letters before errors are corrected.
“I personally submitted attendance agreement forms to the attendance office, most of which were lost,” Barazek said. She described tardiness protocols that allow students to be marked present after arriving up to 29 minutes late and said that practice produces lost instructional time and classroom safety concerns. “This policy allowing students to be 29 minutes late and still be marked present is simply absurd and possibly illegal,” she said.
Barazek also criticized a district proposal to require non‑core teachers to teach a seventh class period without additional pay, calling it “nothing short of wage theft and an abuse of power.” She framed the move as demoralizing and said non‑core teachers are “undervalued, overworked, and dismissed.”
The teacher cited a $2.3 million district loss attributed to attendance‑related issues at Franklin in the prior year and urged trustees to reinstate a 90 percent attendance rule and to reconsider staffing changes.
Board members did not take immediate action during the public‑comment period. Trustees and district staff later addressed other agenda items, including a district presentation on College, Career, and Military Readiness (CCMR) data. The teacher’s comments were entered into the public record and will be available through the meeting minutes.
Ending: The teacher asked trustees to “not punish the teachers who show up every day,” and to weigh the effects of attendance coding and scheduling plans on instruction and morale. The district did not announce policy changes at the meeting.
