Elmbrook School Board approves COVID-19 sick days
Elmbrook School District employees who ran out of sick days will have a reprieve thanks to a recent Elmbrook School Board decision.
The Elmbrook School Board voted Jan. 18 to allow its employees up to 10 days of sick leave for COVID-19 related absences, to be retroactive to the start of the school year.
Qualifying reasons for the COVID-19 sick days include testing positive for COVID-19, employee quarantine, caring for a child who tested positive for COVID-19, caring for a child in quarantine, or school or daycare closed due to COVID-19, according to a district presentation.
According to the presentation, 12 district employees used 30 unpaid days, between all of them, for COVID-19 related reasons. It also said 305 district employees have fewer than 10 sick days left; 272 of those employees require substitutes when absent.
It also showed the district's teacher substitutes had dropped from 384 before the pandemic to 261 in the 2021-22 school year.
The district designates nine sick days for 10-month staff and 12 sick days for 12-month staff each year. Two to three sick days are designated as discretionary days, depending upon experience in the district. Unused sick days carry over to the next year and are placed in a sick day carryover bank up to 60 days, the district's presentation said.
From March to December 2020, the district was required to provide 10 paid days off for COVID-19 related absences through the federal Families First Coronavirus Response Act. The district voluntarily extended that through August 2021, the district's presentation said.
Brookfield Central High School Principal Brett Gruetzmacher said at the meeting that newer employees have been most affected by COVID-19 related absences, as they have fewer sick days available. He also said staff have been asked to stay home more than ever if they are sick.
"The area that's probably caught us off guard a little bit is the time that they've had to stay home if their children, if their day care is closed down or their class is in quarantine, no matter where their children live. That still happens," Gruetzmacher told the board. "So in order to maintain our staff in terms of their conscience and their ability to take care of their family, I think it would be appropriate for us to address this as a school board and as a district, in general."
The presentation noted that the district has received COVID-19 relief funding, and could potentially receive additional funds.
Elmbrook School Board member Glen Allgaier made an alternative proposal of five days of sick leave for regular sick leave or for COVID-19 reasons for those who had used up their sick time, according to a draft of the Jan. 18 meeting minutes,. He later changed his motion to 10 additional days of sick leave but not retroactive to the start of the school year. He added to his motion that the 12 employees who had used up their sick leave due to COVID-19 would be reimbursed. Allgaier's motion failed on voice vote.
Instead, the board approved member Jean Lambert's motion to accepted the district's proposal as presented.
Contact Alec Johnson at (262) 875-9469 or alec.johnson@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter at @AlecJohnson12.
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Elmbrook School Board approves COVID-19 sick days for its staff
