ARTICLE IX:
Leaves
Section
A: Paid Leave
The
Board agrees to grant each full time teacher twelve (12) paid leave days per
year accumulative to ninety (90) days.
Half-time teachers will be granted the same number of one-half days of
paid leave as full time teachers are granted full days of paid leave. Teachers working other than full time
or half-time shall be granted a prorated number of paid leave days. If a teacher is on extended contract
they will be granted one (1) additional day of sick leave for each month beyond
the regular nine (9) months contract.
All leave days per contract year may be used for either personal or paid
leave (sick, emergency, bereavement, maternity/paternity) and will still be
designated as personal or paid leave on the leave form. Paid leave does not
include Legal Leave, Extended Leave, and Professional Growth Leave. Each teacher's leave account shall be
credited with their annual paid leave allocation when they report for their
first day of service. For a
teacher in their first year of employment in the district, these days shall not
be used until after completion of five (5) days of service in the
district. An exception may be made
if the teacher is unable to report at the beginning of the contract period, for
reasons considered by the administration to be justifiable, and states that
they will be able to return to work within twenty (20) school days and requests
that their paid leave account be credited. The reporting requirement does not apply to accumulated
days.
Section
B: Personal Leave
Each
certified employee may use a maximum of four (4) consecutive days of paid
personal leave at any one time. Notice for
personal leave will be submitted to the building principal at least forty-eight
(48) hours in advance.
1. Personal
leave is to be used for personal reasons.
2. Personal
leave shall not be granted:
¥ on
the day immediately before or the day immediately after any vacation, break or
other leave or non-duty time, or
¥ during
the first ten (10) and last five (5) contract days unless used for parental
participation in their childrenÕs school-related activities, or
¥ parent-teacher
conference days, or
¥ in-service
days, training, professional development, teacher workdays or school
improvement days unless approved
by the building principal and the superintendent.
3. The number of personal leave requests approved on any one day shall not exceed five (5) percent of the certified staff in the total district, nor more than two (2) teachers per elementary building or three (3) teachers per Middle or High School building without approval of the Superintendent.
Section
C: Sick Leave
1. This
leave shall cover absences for the teacher's own illness or illness in the
immediate family. Immediate family
shall include spouse, children, mother, father, sister, brother, grandchildren,
grandparents and in-laws. It shall
also include anyone living in the residence of said teacher.
2. The
Board may require that teachers submit a medical affidavit (doctor's statement)
verifying any sick leave absence for which they have reasonable cause to
believe the absence was not due to illness. If the board so requires, the board shall pay any additional
expenses incurred by the teacher for securing such an affidavit if the medical
affidavit confirms the absence due to illness.
3. A
Sick Leave Assistance Pool shall be established which contains those unused
days contributed to the Pool by participating teachers. Any participating teacher shall be
eligible to request additional sick leave from the Pool. Additional
contributions may be made through May 1st of that school year. Appropriate contribution forms shall be
prepared and distributed to all teachers by the Central Office. On the form, the contributor is to sign
his/her name, indicate the number of days contributed and return to the Central
Office. Copies shall be furnished
to the contributing teacher and the Sick Leave Assistance Pool Committee
(SLAPCO).
In
the event of illness which exhausts an eligible teacher's sick leave, he/she
may request additional sick leave days from the Pool. Days granted, but unused, shall be returned to the Pool. The
balance of SLAP days in the pool at the end of the contract year will be
carried over for use the following year.
Guidelines and procedures for administering the Pool and terms and
conditions of individual grants shall be established by SLAPCO.
Application
for additional sick leave shall be reviewed by the SLAPCO composed of five (5)
members appointed by the Association.
The decision of the committee shall be final. Four (4) copies of the application shall be prepared. The applicant shall retain one, and the
other three (3) copies shall go to the Central Office, the ACTA President and
SLAPCO. Once the decision on the
application has been made, the committee will provide written notification to
the teacher, the Superintendent, and the ACTA President. The teacher may appeal a denial of days
to the Board of Education within 30 days of the notification. The decision of the Board of Education
shall be final. The Central Office
will keep records of the number of days in the pool, applications received, and
days granted.
ACTA
and the Arkansas City Board of Education intend to decrease the number of
accumulated days in the Sick Leave Assistance Pool. That task will be accomplished over a period of several
years through a give back of up to two day(s) per year, to those who
contributed to the pool during the period the 1995-96 master agreement was in
force The give back will continue
until the number of days in the Sick Leave Assistance Pool drops to, or below,
500. Members who have previously
donated to the pool will not be required to donate further unless a special
call for days has been issued by SLAPCO, as outlined below. New or non- participating teachers may
participate in the Pool by contributing one (1) day on or before September
20. Donations shall be restricted
to one (1) day only, unless the number of days remaining in the Pool falls
below four hundred (400). In that
event, a call for additional days will be issued by SLAPCO. If such call is issued each member will
be required to contribute one day to continue his/her membership.
Section
D: Emergency Leave
The
emergency must contain two (2) elements:
first, it must be unforeseen; second, it must require immediate
action. An event which is planned
ahead or does not require immediate action is not an emergency.
Section
E: Personal and Emergency Leave
Appeal Procedure
In
the event that personal or emergency leave is denied, the following appeal
procedure will be offered the teacher affected:
1. Within
five (5) working days after the request has been denied, the professional
employee shall submit to the building principal a written statement listing the
reasons why the request should be approved.
2. The
building principal shall forward his/her recommendations to the Superintendent
within two (2) working days from the receipt of the appeal.
3. Upon
receipt of the appeal from the principal, the Superintendent shall have ten
(10) working days to submit a written statement of the disposition of the appeal
to the professional employee.
Section
F: Bereavement Leave
Use of paid leave for funerals shall be permitted.
Section
G: Maternity/Paternity Leave
Sick leave may be used by either or both spouses for
the actual period of disability of the mother.
Section
H: Legal Leave
1. The
Board will grant each teacher the time necessary for appearance in any legal
proceeding connected with their employment or any legal proceeding for which
the teacher is subpoenaed as a witness. No leave will be provided if the
teacher is the plaintiff in a legal proceeding against the district or the
teacher is to be reimbursed for his or her appearance as a witness. No deduction from salary shall be made
provided the absence does not exceed two (2) days in the school year. Any exception to the two-day limitation
must be made in writing to, and have the written approval of, the
Superintendent of Schools.
2. Any
teacher required to appear for jury duty during such time as the teacher would
be regularly assigned for instructional duty with the district, will receive
regular pay less any amount paid the teacher for jury service.
Section
I: Extended Leave
The
Superintendent is empowered by the Board to grant a leave of absence to attend
school, or to teach or travel abroad.
However,
such a grant would have to be made under the following provisions:
1. Leave
would be taken without pay.
However, during the extended leave, the employee would be allowed to
continue as a member of the district's group health insurance plan - the School District will continue to makes itsÕ
contribution to the cost of the premium and the employee will pay the balance of the premium to the district payroll clerk
no later than the twenty-third (23rd) of each month. If the employee
does not return to the school district following extended leave, all Board
contributions during leave shall be reimbursed to the school district.
2. Employment
will be guaranteed for the future.
3. When
re-employed, there will be no loss of privileges or benefits accrued during the
teacher's past tenure. Any other
type of extended leave will be considered under the provisions listed above.
Section
J: Professional Growth Leave
The
Board agrees to grant professional growth days as approved by the
Superintendent. Such leave must be
approved in advance for workshops, seminars, clinics or other purposes as
deemed appropriate by the Superintendent.
Section
K: Compensation For Unused Paid
Leave
1. Yearly
Accumulated Paid Leave
At
the end of each contracted school year, the full-time teacher who has an
accumulated paid leave in excess of seventy-eight (78) days shall receive
$75.00 per day for each unused day of paid leave accumulated in the year in
excess of the seventy-eight (78) day accumulation, unless the teacher has
specifically requested in advance to have some or all of these days credited to
the sick leave assistance pool. Paid leave for which payment is received shall
not be counted toward the ninety (90) day accumulation.
Teachers
wanting to donate one or more of these accumulated days to the sick leave
assistance pool instead of receiving compensation for those days must notify
the payroll department of U.S.D. 470 by May 1 of the current year.
2. Unused
Paid Leave at Retirement
At
the time of retirement, a teacher shall be compensated for all days of unused
accumulated paid leave at the rate of $75.00 per day.
Section
L: Deductions For Partial Day
Absences and Unpaid Leave
1. Partial
Day Absences
Paid
leave granted for partial day absences shall be deducted as follows:
Absence
of 1 clock hour or less (no more than four per year) = no paid leave deduction
Absence
of 1.76-3.5 clock hours = 1/2 day paid leave deduction
Absence
of 3.51-5.25 clock hours = 3/4 day paid leave deduction
2. Unpaid
Leave
When
an absence occurs for which unpaid leave has been granted, 1/188th of the teacher's salary shall be deducted for each
day of absence. Deductions in
salary for partial days' absences will be prorated using the guidelines listed
above in Section L, paragraph 1.