Employees may be terminated for excessive absences or tardiness. Unless authorized by the Board or the superintendent or otherwise authorized by law, an employee's absence or tardiness is considered excessive if it:
• Is for a reason not granted as paid or protected leave under Board policy.
• Exceeds the number of days allotted by the Board for that particular leave.
• Is for a reason authorized by Board policy but exceeds five (5) days a month, twenty (20)
days in a semester or forty (40) days per school year, unless otherwise authorized by law.
The following leaves, with pay, will be accorded full-time employees:
Sick Leave - Employees whose assignments call for twelve (12) months of full-time employment will be entitled to twelve (12) days of sick leave. Employees whose assignments call for full-time employment only during the regular school term will be entitled to ten (10) days of sick leave. Unused sick leave will be cumulative to an unlimited number of sick leave days. An absence of over one (I) through four ( 4) hours
shall be counted as half-day of sick leave.
Absences may be charged against sick leave for the following reasons:
Illness, temporary disability or permanent disability of the employee. The Board reserves the right to require a physician's certification attesting to the illness or disability of the claimant and/or inclusive dates of the employee's incapacitation if the absence is for more than ten (10) consecutive days. FMLA health certification procedures apply to FMLA-qualifying absences, even if such absences are paid sick leave. The district need not wait ten (I 0) days before requesting an FMLA Certification of Health Care Provider form in conjunction with a preliminary designation that FMLA applies to an absence.
Bereavement Leave - Illness, death or injury of a member of the immediate family. The Board defines "immediate family" to include spouse, parents, children, mother-in-law, father-in-law, grandparents, grandchildren, brothers and sisters of an employee or employee's spouse. (Note: "Family" for FMLA purposes is more limited.)
Illness, death or injury of other relatives, with permission granted by the superintendent.
A district employee shall not be entitled to use sick days during the period the employee received Workers' Compensation for time lost to work-related incidents.
Any certificated employee who is a member of a retirement system shall remain a member during any period of leave under sick leave provisions of the district or under Workers' Compensation.
The employee shall also receive creditable service credit for such leave time if the employee makes contributions to the system equal to the amount of contributions that he or she would have made had he or she been on active service status.
Upon retirement, district will buy back all sick leave/personal days accumulated by teacher at one-half of current sub-rate pay. The superintendent must receive written notification of the teacher's intent to retire at the end of their current contract year not later than April 15, 2004. Subsequent years will require written notification of the teacher's intent to retire at the end of their current contract year being received by the superintendent not later than March 15.
Personal Leave -- Employees will be provided with the opportunity to use one-half (1/2) of their annual allotment of sick days for personal leave each year. Unused personal leave days do not accumulate.
Whenever possible, it is expected that requests for leave will be made in writing to the designated administrator at least 48 hours in advance of the time leave is requested. However, thirty (30) days' notice is required by law if the leave qualifies as FMLA leave. The administrator will respond promptly to the employee's written request.
A district employee shall not be entitled to use personal leave days during the period the employee receives Workers' Compensation for time lost to work-related incidents.
Professional Leave -- Teachers may be granted professional leave upon the approval of the superintendent. Professional leave must be arranged well in advance, and is not considered personal leave.
Military Leave -- The Board shall grant military leave as required by law.