SCS enacts paid sick leave for teachers with COVID-19
Shelby County Schools employees who test positive for COVID-19 will receive sick leave under a new policy that will be retroactive through July 1, the district announced Thursday.
As of Sept. 30, 417 staffers have reported positive cases to the school district since Aug. 9, the first day of school. The district employs nearly 15,000 people, but it is not immediately clear if all 15,000 would be counted in the staff case report.
Another 2,818 students have tested positive, of about 85,000 enrolled in traditional, non-charter schools.
The policy will only apply for employees who test positive for COVID-19 and will not apply for employees who are close contacts of cases, including times when a person may have to stay home from work due to a household member having COVID-19.
The policy provides up to ten days of consecutive leave and requires employees to submit a PCR test result to the district before their isolation period is up. The policy is in place through June 2022.
Prior to the announcement of the emergency paid sick leave, the school district did not provide additional sick time due to COVID-19.
Teachers who needed sick time due to Covid-19related
reasons could receive paid sick leave through any of the reasons provided through the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, which ended Dec. 30, 2020.
Teachers can use paid days off or sick leave for absences.
“Employees who used sick, vacation, or personal days while recuperating from COVID-19, retroactive to July 1, 2021, will have those days restored to their sick, vacation, and/or personal banks,” the district said in the announcement.
District policy allows teachers to take unpaid sick days once all other paid leave days have been used. Teachers accrue one sick day per one month of work, for up to 12 sick days per year, according to the policy. The time accumulates from year-to-year.
In Nashville, the school district announced a similar policy in August. It provides additional sick leave, but only to people who are vaccinated.
SCS did not announce a vaccination requirement for its sick leave.
Under Nashville’s policy, teachers are eligible for up to 10 days of leave, up to two times during the current school year.
Employees have to provide medical documentation that they are unable to work remotely because of their illness and also must provide proof “that he/she has received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine prior to isolation or quarantine; OR the employee provides documentation from a Board-certified medical provider that the employee was ineligible to be vaccinated,” according to the policy.
The policy was not voted on by the SCS school board, but enacted by the district.
Laura Testino covers education and children’s issues for the Commercial Appeal. Reach her at laura.testino@commercialappeal.com or 901-512-3763. Find her on Twitter: @Ldtestino