MANASQUAN — The Manasquan Board of Education [BOE] proposed an amendment to the newly adopted sick leave policy, limiting the number of reasons from eight to four.
Over the summer, the board adopted a new sick leave policy for all faculty in the Manasquan school district, in which if an individual wished to take sick leave, they would have to identify it based on one of eight categories.
The policy, 1642.01, reads “The Board of Education shall grant sick leave in accordance with N.J.S.A. 18A:30-2. All persons holding any office, position, or employment in the school district, who are steadily employed by the Board or who are protected by tenure in their office, position, or employment under the provisions of this or any other law, except persons in the classified service of the civil service under Title 11, Civil Service, of the Revised Statutes shall be allowed sick leave in accordance with N.J.S.A. 18A:30-2.”
The eight categories are:
- “The employee is personally ill or injured.
- For diagnosis, care, or treatment of, or recovery from, an employee’s mental or physical illness, injury or other adverse health condition, or for preventive medical care for the employee.
- For the employee to aid or care for a family member of the employee during diagnosis, care, or treatment of, or recovery from, the family member’s mental or physical illness, injury or other adverse health condition, or during preventive medical care for the family member.
- Absence necessary due to circumstances resulting from the employee, or a family member of the employee, being a victim of domestic or sexual violence, if the leave is to allow the employee to obtain for the employee or the family member: Medical attention needed to recover from physical or psychological injury or disability caused by domestic or sexual violence; Services from a designated domestic violence agency or other victim services organization; Psychological or other counseling; Relocation; or Legal services, including obtaining a restraining order or preparing for, or participating in, any civil or criminal legal proceeding related to the domestic or sexual violence;
- The death of a family member for up to seven days.
- To attend a child’s school-related conference, meeting, function or other event requested or required by a school administrator, teacher, or other professional staff member responsible for the child’s education, or to attend a meeting regarding care provided to the child in connection with the child’s health conditions or disability;
- The school or place of care of a child of the employee is closed by order of a public official or because of a state of emergency declared by the Governor due to an epidemic or other public health emergency;
- The employee has been exposed to a contagious disease or is quarantined for the disease in the employee’s immediate household.”
Assistant Superintendent Jesse Place explained that this amendment would limit the options from eight to four. He said after seeing the start of the school year, the board can limit these options down to make the process more streamlined and less confusing.
The new categories proposed would be if the employee is sick in any means; if a family member is sick and needs to be taken care of; a death of a family member; and a school district shutting down due to a public health crisis preventing the employee’s child from attending.
The board unanimously introduced the amendment on first reading.
More information will be available by the next board meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 21 at 6 p.m. in the media center at the high school.
This is an excerpt of the print article. For more on this story, read The Coast Star—on newsstands Thursday or online in our e-Edition.
Check out our other Manasquan stories, updated daily. And remember to pick up a copy of The Coast Star—on newsstands Thursday or online in our e-Edition.
Subscribe today! If you're not already an annual subscriber to The Coast Star, get your subscription today! For just $38 per year, you will receive local mail delivery weekly, with pages and pages of local news and online access to our e-edition on Starnewsgroup.com.
