FAYETTEVILLE -- School Board members saw new options to consider for changing the district's leave policy, a proposal that generated more heated discussion Thursday night because it reduces the number of personal days for teachers.
The proposal will return to the School Board on June 23 for a vote, said Tim Hudson, a board member.
Fayetteville School Board
• President, Tim Hudson
• Vice President, Justin Eichmann
• Secretary, Traci Farrah
• Susan Heil
• Bob Maranto
• Steve Percival
• Nika Waitsman
Source: Staff report
Greg Mones, director of human resources, told the board in April the district's personnel policies committees were developing a proposal for changing the district's leave policy for sick days and personal days to improve staff attendance, especially for classroom teachers.
Because of the discussion at that meeting, the personnel policies committee for teachers developed additional recommendations Mones presented Thursday.
In Fayetteville, teachers receive up to 16 days of leave per year: 10 days of sick time, two days of personal leave and up to four more days of personal leave the teachers have to pay for. Teachers are charged the rate of a substitute for those four days. Teachers can carry over up to two days of personal leave each year, so many have up to four days to use each year.
The initial proposal still would provide 10 sick days, but teachers would have just two days of personal leave. If teachers ended the year with two unused personal days, those days would carry over as sick days for the next school year.
One of the new recommendations would provide 10 sick days, two personal days and one emergency leave day for a "serious and unexpected situation that requires immediate leave of the employee," Mones said. The emergency day would not carry over.
The second option is for teachers to receive 10 sick days, two personal days and to permit teachers to use one sick day for personal leave, Mones said. In a survey of staff over the two new options, about 360 responded, with 77 percent preferring the second option.
Board Secretary Traci Farrah said she thought reducing the number of personal days from up to six to two is a "drastic" change.
"I feel that's a great benefit we have," Farrah said. "Sometimes our pay has not been where other districts are."
Teachers have told Farrah they are concerned about the reduction in personal days because of days they must go to court as foster parents or for traveling with their children to visit colleges, she said. Farrah thinks there's a better way for increasing the time teachers are in classrooms with students.
Board member Bob Maranto said he thinks all sides make good arguments, but teachers he has talked to have "sticker shock" over the proposed reduction in personal days. He prefers for staff within the buildings to try to resolve problems, he said.
Board member Steve Percival said with most other policies, the board has relied on recommendations from a personnel policies committee. The district has one for certified positions, such as teachers, and one for classified positions, including bus drivers and custodians.
"I don't know why this is the only policy in years we're questioning the validity of the PPC's work," he said.
With sick days, the district's policy now allows a teacher carry over all 10 sick days each year until they accumulate 120 sick days. After 120 days, employees can carry just three additional sick days per year, Mones said. The proposal is to pay teachers who have accumulated 120 days for any additional unused sick days at $60 per unused sick day, or $600 for all 10. The proposal also would pay teachers for all of their unused sick time when they retire.
Ruth Mobley, president of the Personnel Policy Committee, told the School Board the committee has discussed the leave policy for months and looked at the policy as a whole. The committee members worked to develop a compromise based on the School Board's discussion in April.
"We have not taken any of this lightly," she said. "Some members have struggled to be in the hallway because there were some unhappy people."
Board President Tim Hudson said it's unusual to have so much discussion on a recommendation from a district personnel policies committee. It's the duty of the board to vote on the recommendation.
"We're trying to find a way to maximize the time our teachers have with students," Hudson said.
NW News on 05/27/2016