ARTICLE X ABSENCES AND LEAVES

New Shoreham School District

The following will apply to full time teachers only. Teachers working less than full time will be eligible for leaves and absences in proportion with their working schedules.

A. Sick Leave

1. In the case of personal illness, each teacher shall be allowed thirteen (13) sick days per year accumulative to a maximum of 180 days. Sick leave may be taken in half-day increments with approval of the Superintendent. Sick leave may also be used to care for a family member with a serious illness. For the purposes of this section, "family" shall include mother, father, brother, sister, spouse, children, and grandparents. In addition, if all thirteen (13) yearly sick leave days are used and a catastrophic illness or injury occurs, any accumulated sick leave may be used at full pay to cover any or all of those days missed because of said illness or injury. The use of sick days for mainland doctor or dental visits is allowed. The Committee may require a certificate from a physician for an absence due to illness.

2. Disabilities caused or contributed to by pregnancy, childbirth, or recovery therefrom are considered temporary disabilities and should be treated as such under any health or temporary disability insurance.

B. Maternity/Paternity/Child Care Leave

1. An employee granted forty-five (45) days maternity or parental leave shall be eligible for sick leave pay within his/her accumulated sick leave for the school work days that she is unable to work due to physical disability. The employee's attending physician must certify that the physical disability prevents her from working. Sick leave will be based upon that period of time as certified by said physician.

2. Child Care Bank - A child care bank will be established to provide child care leave to parents who have recently adopted or given birth to a child and would like to continue to care for the child after their paternity/maternity days have been used.

a. Any staff member, at his discretion, may contribute sick days to the childcare bank. The School Department and the Committee will not contribute days to the bank at any time.

b. Requests for no more than thirty (30) days must be made in writing to the Superintendent and the Association President for use of the bank.

c. A committee comprised of an Association representative, the Superintendent, or his/her designee, and a teacher at large, will manage the bank. A committee will convene on an as needed basis.

3. A leave of absence, without pay or benefits, of up to one (1) year may be granted, upon application to and approval of the Superintendent, for the birth or adoption of a pre-school aged child. The request shall be in writing to the Superintendent by May 1st.

4. An employee may return prior to the end of the unpaid leave of absence provided that the school department has received forty-five (45) days written notification of desire to return and such return is scheduled at the beginning of a semester.

5. An employee will not be given salary schedule credit for the period of time that the employee is on leave.

6. Should the Supreme Court rule that sick leave payments during this leave are not required, the reference to same should be deleted.

C. Temporary Leave-Reasonable leave not to exceed a total of eight (8) days shall be granted without loss of pay in the situations listed below. Requests for such leave shall be submitted to the Superintendent, or his/her designee, as far in advance as possible on a form prepared by the Administration; provided, it is understood the. Superintendent reserves the right to deny approval to ensure the legitimate operations of the Block Island School.

Temporary leave days will not be cumulative except that temporary leave days which are unused at the end of the school year will be credited toward the employee's accumulated sick leave at the beginning of the next year up to a maximum of three (3) such unused days.

1) No more than 2 days may be taken for absences due to ferry cancellations or other similar transportation emergencies.

2) Personal days. No more than 6 days may be used for personal days. Teachers are permitted to use 2 of their 6 personal days in hourly increments throughout the year, provided such time must be used in 1-hour minimum increments. Personal days may not be taken consecutively or on the days immediately before or after school holidays or recess

D. Jury Duty - Any teacher summoned to jury duty shall attempt to be excused on the basis of travel hardship. However, in the absence of the acceptance of such a hardship by the courts, the Committee shall supplement the teacher's salary and this supplement shall equal the difference between the State increment and the teacher's salary.

E. Military Leave - The Committee shall grant a leave of absence for required military training not to exceed two (2) weeks. The employee shall receive the difference between his teacher's salary and the salary earned while on duty.

F. Extended Leaves - All requests for extended leaves of absence will be made in writing to the Committee through the office of the Superintendent as soon as possible.

1. The Committee agrees to grant the following leaves whenever possible to any teacher who has completed three (3) continuous years of service in the New Shoreham School System.

• Provided that participation  in such program is as a teacher.

2. The Committee may grant the following to any teacher whenever necessary:

**Provided that participation in such program is as a teacher.

3. Notification of Return from Leave - Teachers who wish to return from personal leave must notify the school administration in writing of their intention to return for the start of the ensuing school year by January 1 of the current school year. Failure to notify the school by January 1 of the current school year shall be considered an involuntary resignation effective immediately.

G. Sabbatical Leave - Desiring to reward professional performance and encourage independent research and achievement, the Committee may grant one (1) year sabbatical leave to teachers for approved scholarly programs subject to the following conditions:

1. No more than one (1) teacher of the teaching staff may be absent on sabbatical leave at any one time.

2. Requests for sabbatical leave must be received in writing by the Superintendent in such forms as may be required by the Superintendent no later than February 1 of the year preceding the school year in which the sabbatical leave is requested.

3. The teacher must have completed at least seven (7) consecutive full years of service in the New Shoreham School System.

4. The Association as a whole, by majority vote, would decide if a grievance should be filed if the request for sabbatical is rejected by the Committee without good cause.

5. Health and dental insurance shall be provided in accordance with the terms of this Agreement.

6. A teacher on sabbatical leave shall be paid at the rate of one half of his annual basic salary, provided that such pay when added to any salary grant shall not exceed the teacher's full annual basic salary. To the extent allowed by ERSRI, salary paid during a sabbatical leave will be subject to retirement contributions.

7. Every teacher who receives a sabbatical leave shall agree to return for two (2) consecutive school years to the New Shoreham School System. In the event a teacher resigns before completing two (2) years of service, he shall refund 1/20 of the salary received while on leave for each month he fails to serve. In the event a teacher is unable to fulfill the two (2) year obligation as specified due to illness, accident, or acts of God, then the reimbursement requirement shall be waived.

8. The teacher, upon return to the New Shoreham School System, shall be placed upon the appropriate step in salary schedule as though such teacher had not been on leave.

H. Sick Leave Bank - The purpose of the sick leave bank is to provide additional sick leave. It is not intended to cover short-term absences.

1. All full-time staff members covered by this contract will contribute one (1) accumulated sick leave day to the Bank. Part-time staff members covered by this contract will contribute one (1) accumulated sick leave day prorated. The School Department will contribute the number of days required to match the total contribution of the staff. Contributions will be capped as of January 13, 2004, until Article X, Section H.3 must be implemented.

2. Any staff member who has exhausted his accumulated sick leave and who is unable to return to work may apply for use of additional days from the Sick Leave Bank under the following conditions:

a. Five (5) days of absence must occur following the exhaustion of accumulated sick leave before the staff member shall be eligible to draw upon days from the Bank.

b. Application must be made in writing to the Superintendent for use of days from the Bank and such applications must be accompanied by a doctor's statement certifying the nature of the illness or injury and the expected period of disability. Application must be received by the Superintendent prior to the granting of any days from the Bank.

c. Applications will be reviewed for approval by a committee comprised of an Association representative, a Committee member, and the Superintendent.

d. If a staff member is granted use of days from the Bank, he must submit a biweekly doctor's statement to the Superintendent indicating that the disability is continuing and that treatment is being provided. This requirement may be waived by the Superintendent.

e. Disabilities excluded from application for Bank use are disabilities covered by Temporary Disability Insurance.

f. Any days granted from the Bank shall in no event exceed one hundred (100) days per illness or injury per person per year.

3. The Bank will be replenished when it is reduced to 100 days by equal

4. If a questions arises as to whether or not the person is able to return to work the Superintendent may consult a physician employed by the Committee whose decision will be final. This decision cannot be grieved.

I. Absence Due to Death in Family - In case of death in the family (to include mother, father, brother, sister, spouse, child, grandparent, aunt, uncle, niece, nephew), a teacher shall be allowed up to five (5) days leave with pay.