Consistent staffing is important to the learning environment and district operation and therefore is an essential duty of all employees. When an employee is routinely tardy, frequently absent or is absent for an extended period of time, the learning environment and district operations deteriorate, and the students suffer.
Employees may be terminated for excessive absences or tardiness. Unless authorized by the Board or superintendent, or otherwise authorized by law, an employee's absence or tardiness is considered excessive if it:
The employee's salary will be docked if the absence or tardiness occurs for a reason not granted as paid leave under Board policy or if it exceeds the number of days the employee has been granted under a designated leave, even if the absence or tardiness is authorized by the Board or the superintendent.
The district may require an employee to present a certification of fitness to return to work whenever the employee is absent from work due to the employee's health.
Illness/Injury Leave
Illness/Injury leave for support staff members of the West St. Francois County R-IV School District will be built according to the number of months each employee is contracted. (Full-time cooks and teacher aides are considered 9-month employees.) First-year employees shall be credited one (1) day per month up to their position's allotted number. Second-year employees and beyond will be credited according to the following schedule:
12-month employee. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 days
Building secretary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10 days
Nurse. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10 days
Head cook. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 days
Full-time cook. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9 days
Teacher aide. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 days
Any support staff employee who will end the school year with more than 75 illness/injury days, and has signed a contract for the following year in this district, will be paid $35 for each illness/injury day over 75.
Any support staff employee with perfect attendance in a given year shall be offered the opportunity to work one (1) day in the summer. The employee's duties on this day will be to conference with administration on a way to improve attendance. The stipend for this day shall be $100. FMLA protected absences and leave granted as a reasonable accommodation to a qualified individual with a disability do not count against "perfect attendance."
Three (3) days of annual illness/injury leave may be granted for personal leave. (For the purpose of this policy, personal/business is defined as such a nature that cannot be taken care of outside the regular school day, including parent-teacher conferences.) Requests for personal/business leave must be approved in advance by the employee's immediate supervisor. However, 30-days' notice is-required by law if the leave qualifies as FMLA leave-and-such notice is practical. Reasons for such request may be given orally or in writing at least 24 hours in advance of required absence.
A district employee may not use personal/business leave days during the period the employee receives Workers' Compensation for time lost to work-related incidences.
Illness/Injury leave may be used for illness/injury of the employee, employee's spouse, children and parents of the employee or employee's spouse.
Illness/Injury leave may also be granted for death in the immediate family. Immediate family is defined as parents of employee or employee's spouse, children, siblings, grandparents, grandchildren, sons/daughters-in-law and any other family member residing with the employee.
Throughout the contractual year, after three (3) consecutive days of absence, the immediate supervisor, superintendent, and the Board of Education, shall require a doctor's statement for verification of illness/injury. Any employee who uses more than five (5) days in one (1) month (month is defined as any 30 consecutive calendar days) will be required to submit a doctor's statement for the last aforementioned two (2) days, or each day thereafter, of illness/injury leave. When a doctor's excuse is obtained to verify an employee's absence, this excuse must be turned into the building principal's office by the end of the first workday that the employee returns to.. work.
Misuse or misrepresentation of illness/injury or personal/business leave day or days shall be considered insubordination and dealt with according to existing statutes of Missouri law.
For unapproved days absence or days in excess of accumulated illness/injury leave, pay will be deducted in accordance with the number of contracted days that the personnel within that position are contracted to work (e.g., 194 = 1/194,204 = 1/204, etc.). Any days for which a day's pay has been deducted will not be counted as a day of illness/injury leave.
The employee may appeal any denied illness/injury leave which would result in a deduction in the employee's pay. Appeals shall be directed to the superintendent. If the appeal is not resolved, it may be directed to the Board of Education.
Individuals who have accumulated 20 or more illness/injury days will, upon retirement from the district, be reimbursed for unused illness/injury leave at the rate of $20 per day. Maximum days possible to be reimbursed will be 75 plus the number of days allotted yearly per support staff position.
A district employee may not use illness/injury leave during the period the employee receives Workers' Compensation for time lost to work-related incidents.
For coordination of Workers' Compensation benefits with district illness/injury leave pay:
The Board shall grant military leave as required by law.
Vacation
Support staff employees who work on a 12-month basis will be entitled to vacation time according to the following schedule*:
Vacations should normally be scheduled during the months of June through August, during such time as school is not in session. However, up to one (1) week of vacation may be taken in the winter months with the approval of the superintendent and provided there are available replacements.
Custodians are to arrange their vacation time with their principal and the superintendent. All other personnel are to arrange their vacation time with the superintendent.
A district employee may not use vacation days during the period the employee receives Workers Compensation for time lost to work-related incidents.
Holidays
Fourth of July, Labor Day, Thanksgiving (2 days), Christmas (2 days), New Years Day, Presidents Day, Memorial Day.
When a holiday approved above falls on a weekend, then the employee may, with the approval of his or her building administrator and the superintendent, have either the preceding Friday or the following Monday as his or her vacation time. When it is necessary for school to be conducted on anyone of the above approved holidays the employee will be granted compensatory time during the months of June through August. Beginning 2004-05 school year when it is necessary for school to be conducted on Presidents Day, Good Friday will be granted as compensatory time for Presidents Day.
Election Leave
Any employee who is appointed as an election judge pursuant to state law may be absent on any election day for the period of time required by the election authority. The employee must notify the district at least seven (7) days prior to any election in which the employee will serve as an election judge. No employee will be terminated, disciplined, threatened or otherwise subjected to adverse action based on the employee's service as an election judge.
Leave to Vote
Employees who do not have three (3) successive hours free from work while the polls are open will be granted a leave period of three (3) hours for the purpose of voting. Requests for such leave must be made prior to election day, and the employee's supervisors will designate when during the workday the leave should be taken. Any employee who properly requests leave to vote and uses the leave for that purpose will not be subject to discipline, termination or loss of wages or salary.
Jury Duty Leave
An employee will be granted paid leave for time spent responding to a summons for jury duty, time spent participating in the jury selection process or time spent actually serving on a jury. An employee will not be terminated, disciplined, threatened or otherwise subjected to adverse action because of the employee's receipt-of or response to a jury summons. _
Pregnancy, Childbirth, and Adoption Leave
A pregnant employee shall continue in the performance of her duties as long as she is able to do so and as long as her ability to perform duties is not impaired, based on medical opinion.
The employee may use accrued sick leave, personal leave or vacation leave during periods of pregnancy-related disability and, if necessary, an unpaid leave of absence to begin at the time recommended by her physician. The employee shall return to duty when she is physically able, based on medical opinion, except that this paragraph creates no rights extending beyond the contracted period of employment.
Pregnant employees shall be treated the same as other employees who are similar in their ability or inability to work for all purposes under this policy.
An employee who is the primary caretaker of an adopted child will be provided the same leave opportunities afforded employees for pregnancy-related leave for the purpose of arranging for the child's placement or caring for the child after placement.
An employee must notify the district of the need for and anticipated duration of the leave at least 30 days before leave is to begin, if foreseeable. If 30 days' notice is not practical, the employee must give as much notice as possible. .
These rules are subject to preemption by the FMLA as necessary for FMLA-eligible employees.
For any employee who is not eligible for the FMLA leave, including any employee who has exhausted available FMLA-protected leave, requests for leave and the use of benefits time shall proceed according to the district's established policies, and the procedural requirements of the FMLA shall not apply where they are not mandated by law.
*Twelve-month employees who began their employment with the district after the start of the school year will be entitled to vacation time in the following summer on a pro rata basis.