Last school year, the Alliance successfully worked through Consultation and through presentations to the School Board to have objectionable language removed from proposed changes to the Board Policy on use of leave days by employees. The administration has now revived some of that language in its proposed language for the SAISD Administrative Procedure on use of leave days. Administrative procedures give further details regarding implementation of Board Policy. Administrative procedures do not go to the School Board for approval. It appears in this case that the administration did not feel they could get Board approval for the language and so chose to wait and try to put it into administrative procedures instead.
The proposed administrative procedure would limit use of discretionary leave. Discretionary leave is "leave for which the employee knows in advance will be necessary and/or leave that can be planned," essentially meaning personal business. The proposed limitations are:
Employee would have to submit a written request (on Exhibit A form) to the principal or supervisor at least five workdays in advance of the anticipated absence.
Leave shall be considered granted unless the principal or immediate supervisor notifies the employee to the contrary within 72 hours of the requested absence.
In approving or denying the leave, the principal or immediate supervisor cannot consider the reasons why the employee is requesting the use leave. They can only consider the effect of the employee’s absence on the educational program and District operations before approving or denying the leave. They can only consider the six factors listed for campus based and instructionally related personnel.
The principal or department supervisor would have to notify the employee within three workdays of receiving the request whether the request is granted or denied.
In recent discussions on the proposed procedure, the Alliance once again pointed out the flaws in this proposal. The proposed changes are an attempt by the Administration to address concerns about the impact on the instructional program and on district operations when a significant number or percentage of employees are absent on any given day at a given campus or department. The Alliance team pointed out that the proposed language may actually worsen the situation. Currently, the vast majority of employees notify their principal or supervisor well in advance of their plans to be out for personal business. Under the proposed guidelines, many employees may not want to take the chance on whether their use of discretionary leave would be approved or not. The option left to them would be to be "sick" which would mean the employee would call in the night before the absence or the morning of the absence, which would make contingency planning much more difficult than under the current situation. The Alliance team recommended that the district consider a "carrot" approach rather than a "stick" approach. We believe providing emphasis on a campus level or department level on the days that are important for employee to be in attendance would accomplish the desired outcome and would not cause all employees to have to endure limitations that are aimed at abuses by the few.
Your Alliance team will continue to work on this issue and will keep you updated.
Copyright 2010 San Antonio Alliance of Teachers and Support Personnel