Mental health maintenance is a valid reason to use sick leave, and getting out of town to have some fun is exactly what people need from time to time. Her union should hire her a good lawyer to tell the district to pound sand.
The issue in this case is that if was planned with some time in advanced and notified the same day/day before.
If a coworker has any kind of emergency (family, health, mental) and takes the day off, I will sympathize, regardless of how that impacts me. If it’s planned but not communicated not so much.
Of course, I live in a country with 22+ paid days off + “unlimited” sick days and I in my role we usually are flexible with the time off. With very different conditions that might be more understandable.
When you live in a country where your vacation requests can be denied arbitrarily you might be tempted to just say ‘fuck em’ and let them know it’s not optional the day before you skip work.
And they wonder why it is hard to find teachers.
