The number of vacation days a 12-month school district employee, like administrators and maintenance staff, would be allowed to accumulate could be significantly reduced under an updated policy the Hamilton County school board is considering.
“When we make these decisions, we’ve got to keep in mind: We’re not just talking about administrators that make the paper for making this amount. We’re talking about 12-month employees,” said school board member Gary Kuehn, R-Ooltewah, noting that maintenance staff make up a large portion of this group. “We talk about teaching is a hard job, so is administration. The principal of a school, it’s a no-win situation.”
Under the current policy, 12-month employees who have worked for the district for up to nine years accrue 12 vacation days per year, 10-14 year employees accrue 17 days, 15-19 years accrue 18 days and 20 or more years accrue 24 days. The employees could bank up to 1,680 hours, or 210 eight-hour days, which would be reimbursed at their daily rate upon retirement.
Based on the updated policy presented to the board Monday, 12-month employees who have worked for the district for up to nine years and 20 or more years would see no change, while 10-19 year employees would all accrue 18 days per year. The employees would be able to bank up to 360 hours, or 45 eight-hour days.
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