Madison school district officials announced Friday teachers have until April 15 to withdraw fake doctors notes submitted to attend protests at the Capitol more than a month ago.

After negotiations with Madison Teachers Inc., the district decided to give teachers the mid-April deadline, Madison Metropolitan School District spokesperson Ken Syke said. Teachers who do not return notes by that time would be “suspended with time served.”

The suspension would not give teachers additional time off, but MMSD Executive Human Resources Director Bob Nadler said the state of suspension is still a serious offense.

“[Suspension with time served] is a very serious discipline, and normally it’s the last step before termination,” Nadler said.

In total, Nadler estimates about 1,000 individuals were absent each day during the four-day stretch of cancelled classes in mid-February. He said this number includes teachers, educational assistants and clericals.

After the investigations, Nadler said about 200 doctors’ notes used by teachers were deemed questionable. As of Friday, about 75 or 80 of those teachers had emailed Nadler saying they wished to rescind the fraudulent notes.

Syke said determining the fake doctors’ notes was relatively easy because they were given the names of physicians who were said to have been signing the fraudulent notes.

He said the district and MTI believed suspension with time served was the best discipline because staff had already gone up to four days without pay. He said teachers would therefore be suspended but would not have to be away from work any longer. Teachers who rescind their notes will still not receive compensation for the days missed.

If teachers confess to using forged doctors’ notes, Nadler said they would instead receive a letter of expectation, which is a lower form of discipline than suspension with time served. He added the letter would essentially say the Board expects the teachers to never again repeat the offense.

“I would expect that everybody who [used the fake notes] would rescind the notes at some point,” Nadler said.

Syke said the Board estimates staff members submitted more than 1,000 doctors’ notes between Feb. 16 and Feb. 21. He added the number could be off because of duplicate notes and because some teachers submitted notes for each of the four days while others submitted one note for the whole period.