PROFESSIONAL STAFF SHORT-TERM LEAVES AND ABSENCES

Consistent contact with students and staff is important to the learning environment and District operation and therefore is an essential duty of a professional staff member's position. However, the Board recognizes that there are circumstances that require an employee to miss work, and the purpose of this policy is to identify situations where paid and unpaid leave from work are appropriate.

The District may require an employee to provide the District verification of illness from a healthcare provider before the District applies sick leave to the absence. 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.

The following leaves with pay will be provided to full-time professional staff employees. Part-time professional staff employees will receive these leaves on a pro rata basis.

Paid Leave

Professional staff employees whose assignments call for 12 months of full-time employment will receive 11 days of paid leave. Professional staff employees whose assignments call for full-time employment only during the regular school term will receive 11 days of paid leave. Unused paid leave will be cumulative to 138 sick leave days.

Absences may be charged against paid leave for the following reasons:

1. Illness, injury or incapacity of the employee. The Board reserves the right to require a healthcare provider'scertificationattestingtotheillnessorincapacityoftheclaimantand/or inclusive dates of the employee's incapacitation. FMLA health certification procedures apply to FMLA-qualifying absences, even if such absences are paid leave.
2. Illness, injury or incapacity of a member of the immediate family. The Board defines "immediate family" to include spouse, parents, children, children's spouses, grandparents, grandchildren and siblings of an employee or employee's spouse, and any other family member residing with the employee. (Note: "Family" for FMLA purposes is more limited.)
3. Illness, injury or incapacity of other relatives, with permission granted by the superintendent.
4. Pregnancy, childbirth and adoption leave in accordance with this policy.

Staff members who are ill are encouraged to stay home to promote healing and reduce the risk of infecting others, especially during a pandemic or other significant health event. In the event of a pandemic or other significant health event, schools may be closed to all staff and students or just students. If schools are closed only to students, staff members are expected to work regular schedules or use appropriate leave.

Any certificated employee who is a member of a retirement system shall remain a member during any period of leave under paid 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.

Two additional days may be taken with deduction of substitute's pay from the teacher's daily rate with the difference between the substitute's pay and the teacher's pay being paid to the teacher. These two days will not be counted against paid leave.

Whenever possible, it is expected that requests for leave will be made in writing to the designated administrator at least two days in advance of the time leave is requested. However, 30 days' notice is required by law if the leave qualifies as FMLA leave and such notice is practical. The administrator will respond promptly to the employee's written request.

A District employee may not use paid leave days during the period the employee receives Workers' Compensation for time lost to work-related incidents.

Vacation

All professional staff employed on a 12-month basis will receive two weeks of vacation per year. An employee must submit a written request for vacation to the superintendent or designee and receive written authorization before taking vacation days. If the employee's absence may disrupt District operations, the superintendent or designee has the discretion to deny a request for vacation or to limit the time of year the employee may take his or her vacation.

A District employee may not use vacation days during the period the employee receives Workers' Compensation for time lost to work-related incidents.

Bereavement Leave

All District employees shall be granted up to five continuous days of paid bereavement leave in the loss of a parent, spouse, or child. All District employees shall be granted up to three continuous days of paid bereavement leave in the loss of a grandparent, grandchild, or sibling. Administrative notification is required. This section applies to in-laws and step-children of the employee aswell.

When an employee suffers the loss of a relative other than those specified above, up to three continuous days of accumulated paid leave days may be used as bereavement days as distance and other factors are taken into consideration. Administrative notification is required.

When an employee wishes to attend the funeral of a close friend, one whole or half paid leave day may be used for the day of the service, contingent upon availability of substitutes and/or crisis response planning and prior administrative approval.

Unless otherwise provided, the following leaves will be provided to full-time and part-time professional employees.

For full-time and part-time certified 9-month employees:

Paid Holidays are Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, New Year's Day, and Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. When Christmas Day or New Year's Day falls on a weekend, Friday will be allowed off if the holiday occurs on Saturday, and Monday will be allowed off if the holiday falls on Sunday.

Pre or Post holiday non-contract and non-paid days are Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve when these days fall upon a weekday and the Friday after Thanksgiving and, if school is not in session, the Friday before Easter as well as the Monday after Easter and Columbus Day and Presidents' Day.

For full-time and part-time certified 10-month employees:

Paid Holidays are Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, New Year's Day, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, and Memorial Day. When Christmas Day or New Year's Day falls on a weekend, Friday will be allowed off if the holiday occurs on Saturday, and Monday will be allowed off if the holiday falls on Sunday.

Pre or Post holiday non-contract and non-paid days are Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve when these days fall upon a weekday and the Friday after Thanksgiving and, if school is not in session, the Friday before Easter as well as the Monday after Easter and Columbus Day and Presidents' Day.

For full-time and part-time certified 12-month employees:

Paid Holidays are Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, New Year's Day, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Memorial Day, and Independence Day. When Christmas Day or New Year's Day falls on a weekend, Friday will be allowed off if the holiday occurs on Saturday, and Monday will be allowed off if the holiday falls on Sunday.

Pre or Post holiday non-contract and non-paid days are Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve when these days fall upon a weekday and the Friday after Thanksgiving and, if school is not in session, the Friday before Easter well as the Monday after Easter.

Professional Leave

Employees may be granted professional leave to attend classes or conferences, meet with mentors or participate in other approved professional growth activities. Professional leave must be approved by the superintendent or designee, arranged well in advance and is not considered personal leave.

Military Leave

An employee who is a member of the National Guard, or an organized military service of the United States, and who is required by laws of the United States or the State of Missouri to report for military duty, including training, shall be eligible for a grant of military leave.

Application for military leave shall be made in advance, as soon as practicable after the employee becomes aware of his/her obligation to report and immediately upon the employee's receipt of official notice to report.  A copy of the official orders must be added to the leave application. The Superintendent/designee must approve the application.  Emergency mobilization orders shall be dealt with on an individual basis.

The District recognizes that employees who receive notice to report for duty typically are not provided with discretion as to when to report.  However, whenever an employee has a choice as to when to report for military duty, the employee's military leave shall be arranged during periods in which school is not in session. When the employee is given a choice as to when to report for duty, the Superintendent/designee may request that the employee seek a change in military orders if such a change appears to be in the best interest of the District.

Employees shall receive leave with pay for up to one hundred twenty (120) hours of military leave in each federal fiscal year.  Additional military leave shall be without pay, except as required by federal and state law. Any person entitled to military leave shall only be charged military leave for any hours which the person would otherwise have been required to work had it not been for such military leave at a minimum of one hour and additional charges will be in multiples of one hour.

Each employee shall furnish a copy of the employee's military payroll voucher to the Superintendent/designee within thirty (30) days of the employee's return to regular assignment so that the necessary salary adjustments can be made.

Employee eligibility for reinstatement after military duty is completed shall be determined in accordance with federal and state laws.

Domestic/Sexual Violence Victim Leave (See Policy and Regulation 4322).

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 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 successive hours free from work while the polls are open will be granted a leave period of up to three hours to permit the employees three successive hours while the polls are open 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.

Absences from work for jury duty will be noted on the employee's time sheet or building absentee report. An employee cannot receive pay both from the District and the court system for services; therefore, the employee's monthly pay will be docked to match the compensation the employee received for jury duty, excluding expenses paid by the court, or the employee may elect to reimburse the District this same amount.

Leave for Court Subpoena

If the subpoena is directly related to the employee's school duties, the employee will be released for court appearance without loss of leave. Other court appearances will be deducted from personal leave.

Firefighter Leave

Employees will be allowed to use personal, vacation and/or unpaid leave for any time taken to respond to an emergency in the course of performing duties as a volunteer firefighter. For the purposes of this section, "volunteer firefighter" includes members of Missouri-1 Disaster Medical Assistance Team, Missouri Task Force One, Urban Search and Rescue Team or those activated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in times of national disaster. Employees covered under this section shall not be terminated from employment for joining a volunteer fire department or for being absent from or late to work in order to respond to an emergency. Employees shall make every reasonable effort to notify the principal or supervisor if the employee may be absent from or late to work under this section. Employees are required to provide their supervisors with a written statement from the supervisor or acting supervisor of the volunteer fire department stating that the employee responded to an emergency along with the time and date of the emergency.

Civil Air Patrol Leave

Any employee who is a member of Civil Air Patrol and has qualified for a Civil Air Patrol emergency service specialty or who is certified to fly counter narcotics missions shall be granted unpaid leave to perform Civil Air Patrol emergency service duty or counter narcotics missions without loss of time, regular leave or any other rights or benefits in accordance with law. The leave is limited to 15 working days in any calendar year, but is unlimited when responding to a state- or nationally declared emergency in Missouri. The District may request that the employee be exempted from responding to a specific mission.

Coast Guard Auxiliary Leave

Employees who are members of the United States Coast Guard Auxiliary will be granted an unpaid leave of absence for periods during which they are engaged in the performance of United States Coast Guard or United States Coast Guard Auxiliary duties, including travel related to such duties, when authorized by the director of auxiliary or other appropriate United States Coast Guard Authority. Such leaves of absence will be given without loss of time, regular leave or any other rights or benefits to which such employees would otherwise be entitled. The leave is limited to 15 working days in any calendar year, but is unlimited when responding to a state- or nationally declared emergency in Missouri or upon any navigable waterway within or adjacent to the state of Missouri. The District may request that an employee be exempted from ing to a specific mission.

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 paid leave or vacation 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.

SUPPORT STAFF LEAVES AND ABSENCES

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:

1. Is for a reason not granted as paid or protected leave under Board policy.
2. Exceeds the number of days allotted by the Board for that particular leave.
3. Is for a reason authorized by Board policy but exceeds five days a month, 20 days in a semester or 40 days per schoolyear.

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.

No employee will be disciplined or terminated for absences qualifying for protection under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) or other applicable law.

The District may require an employee to provide the District verification of illness from a healthcare provider before the District applies sick leave or other applicable paid leave to the absence. 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.

The following leaves with pay will be provided to full-time support staff employees. Regular part-time support staff employees will receive these leaves on a pro rata basis:

Any support staff employees whose assignments call for 12 months of full-time employment will receive ten days of leave. Building secretaries and building aides whose assignments call for employment less than full time but more than the regular school term will receive nine days of leave. Support staff employees whose assignments call for full-time employment only during the regular school term will receive eight days of leave. Unused leave will be cumulative to ten times the allotted leave days per year.

Absences may be charged against leave for the following reasons:

1. Illness, injury or incapacity of the employee. The Board reserves the right to require a healthcare provider's certification attesting to the illness or incapacity of the claimant and/or inclusive dates of the employee's incapacitation. The FMLA health certification procedures apply to FMLA-qualifying absences, even if such absences are paid sick.
2. Illness, injury or incapacity of a member of the immediate family. The Board defines "immediate family" to include spouse, parents, children, children's spouses, grandparents, grandchildren and siblings of an employee or employee's spouse, and any other family member residing with the employee. (Note: "Family" for FMLA purposes is more limited.)
3. Illness, injury or incapacity of other relatives, with permission granted by the superintendent.
4. Pregnancy, childbirth and adoption leave in accordance with this policy.

Staff members who are ill are encouraged to stay home to promote healing and reduce the risk of infecting others, especially during a pandemic or other significant health event. In the event of a pandemic or other significant health event, schools may be closed to all staff and students or just students. If schools are closed only to students, staff members are expected to work regular schedules or use appropriate leave.

A District employee may not use sick leave during the period the employee receives Workers' Compensation for time lost to work-related incidents.

Any support staff 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.

Vacation

Annual vacations are important to the health and wellness of our employees. Therefore, the Board of Education encourages full-time employees to use all their annual vacation allotment. Employees are expected to take all vacation in the fiscal year granted. In certain circumstances, the Board of Education may allow a maximum of 40 hours to be carried forward with the approval of the superintendent. Vacation hours carried forward must be used before September 30 of the following fiscal year. Employees who carryover vacation and do not schedule it will forfeit this time.

All full-time (40 hours per week) support staff employed on a 12-month basis will receive five days of vacation per year for the first year of service and ten days per year for two years of service. An employee must submit a written request for vacation to his or her supervisor and receive written authorization before taking vacation days. If the employee's absence may disrupt District operations, the supervisor has the discretion to deny a request for vacation or to limit the time of year the employee may take his or her vacation.

A District employee may not use vacation days during the period the employee receives Workers' Compensation for time lost to work-related incidents.

Bereavement Leave

All District employees shall be granted up to five continuous days of paid bereavement leave in the loss of a parent, spouse, or child. All District employees shall be granted up to three continuous days of paid bereavement leave in the loss of a grandparent, grandchild, or sibling. Administrative notification is required. This section applies to in-laws, and step-children of the employee as well.

When an employee suffers the loss of a relative other than those specified above, up to three continuous days of accumulated sick leave days may be used as bereavement days as distance and other factors are taken into consideration. Administrative notification is required.

When an employee wishes to attend the funeral of a close friend, one whole or half sick leave day may be used for the day of the service, contingent upon availability of substitutes and/or crisis response planning and prior administrative approval.

Unless otherwise provided, the following leaves will be provided to full-time and part-time support staff employees.

Holidays

Paid Holidays are Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, Friday following Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, New Year's Day, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Memorial Day, and Independence Day. Christmas Eve Day is also a paid holiday when it falls during the week. When Christmas Day or New Year's Day or Independence Day falls on a weekend, Friday will be allowed off if the holiday occurs on Saturday, and Monday will be allowed off if the holiday falls on Sunday. Building secretaries, nurses and building aides who work 40 hours per week during the school term will also receive holiday pay for any of the holidays above that fall within the span of their term of work.

Professional Leave

Employees may be granted professional leave to attend classes or conferences, meet with mentors or participate in other approved professional growth activities. Professional leave must be approved by the immediate supervisor, arranged well in advance and is not considered personal leave.

Military Leave

An employee who is a member of the National Guard, or an organized military service of the United States, and who is required by laws of the United States or the State of Missouri to report for military duty, including training, shall be eligible for a grant of military leave.

Application for military leave shall be made in advance, as soon as practicable after the employee becomes aware of his/her obligation to report and immediately upon the employee's receipt of official notice to report.  A copy of the official orders must be added to the leave application. The Superintendent/designee must approve the application.  Emergency mobilization orders shall be dealt with on an individual basis.

The District recognizes that employees who receive notice to report for duty typically are not provided with discretion as to when to report.  However, whenever an employee has a choice as to when to report for military duty, the employee's military leave shall be arranged during periods in which school is not in session. When the employee is given a choice as to when to report for duty, the Superintendent/designee may request that the employee seek a change in military orders if such a change appears to be in the best interest of the District.

Employees shall receive leave with pay for up to one hundred twenty (120) hours of military leave in each federal fiscal year.  Additional military leave shall be without pay, except as required by federal and state law. Any person entitled to military leave shall only be charged military leave for any hours which the person would otherwise have been required to work had it not been for such military leave at a minimum of one hour and additional charges will be in multiples of one hour.

Each employee shall furnish a copy of the employee's military payroll voucher to the Superintendent/designee within thirty (30) days of the employee's return to regular assignment so that the necessary salary adjustments can be made.

Employee eligibility for reinstatement after military duty is completed shall be determined in accordance with federal and state laws.

Domestic/Sexual Violence Victim Leave (See Policy and Regulation 4322).

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 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 successive hours free from work while the polls are open will be granted a leave period of up to three hours to permit employees three successive hours while the polls are open 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.

Absences from work for jury duty will be noted on the employee's time sheet or building absentee report. An employee cannot receive pay both from the District and the court system for services; therefore, the employee's monthly pay will be docked to match the compensation the employee received for jury duty, excluding expenses paid by the court, or the employee may elect to reimburse the District this same amount.

Leave for Court Subpoena

If the subpoena is directly related to the employee's school duties, the employee will be released for court appearance without loss of leave. Other court appearances will be deducted from personal leave.

Firefighter Leave

Employees will be allowed to use personal, vacation and/or unpaid leave for any time taken to respond to an emergency in the course of performing duties as a volunteer firefighter. For the purposes of this section, "volunteer firefighter" includes members of Missouri-1 Disaster Medical Assistance Team, Missouri Task Force One, Urban Search and Rescue Team or those activated by FEMA in times of national disaster. Employees covered under this section shall not be terminated from employment for joining a volunteer fire department or for being absent from or late to work in order to respond to an emergency. Employees shall make every reasonable effort to notify the principal or supervisor if the employee may be absent from or late to work under this section. Employees are required to provide their supervisors with a written statement from the supervisor or acting supervisor of the volunteer fire department stating that the employee responded to an emergency along with the time and date of the emergency.