Taking Leave (public school, salary, insurance, principal)

[Snort]

Can someone tell me if they've taken leave from a school district and what is required to do so?
Thanks in advance!

[North Beach Person]

What type of leave?
Sick?
Personal?
Professional?
Sabbatical?
Family and Medical Leave Act?
Pregnancy?
Bereavement?
General Leave Without Pay?

It would be hard to answer here since every system has different contractual requirements. Check with the HR department of your system (if there is one), your union rep (if there is one) or maybe your principal.

[TabulaRasa]

It's going to be very individual to the school. At my school (private, non-union, no collective bargaining, very different contractual requirements than public), you may take sick, personal, FMLA/maternity, leave (all of which are unpaid, once you go through any accumulated PTO time) without consequence for up to 6 months with written approval. As far as I know, we don't do specific professional leave or sabbaticals (unless they are counted under personal leave). Bereavement is a number of days, and depends on your association with the deceased, as to how long it is. In many of our HR policies, we more closely mimic a private corporation than a public school.

[Eresh]

Check with HR for your school district or school.
I once took a year long leave of absence. I was supposed to pay for my health insurance, but that year would have been credited toward my length of service if I had returned (I didn't).

[hey teach]

I have taken leave for the following:
1. maternity leave. 6 weeks - used sick leave days I had built up and borrowed from the sick
leave bank.
2. berevement leave. 4 months - unpaid leave to care for a terminally ill family member. I
continued to pay for my health insurance.
3. educational leave - 1 school year - compleated my master's degree. Unpaid leave where I
continued to pay for my insurance and my job was available to me upon return.

I knew a teacher who once took leave from our system for one year to teach in another country.
It was considered educational leave, unpaid, paid her own insurance.

[teachbeach]

I took a half year sabbatical (for education), was paid 1/2 my salary, but made full payment into pension and insurance. Only received 1/2 of my sick days and personal days that year, even though I was technically employed (financially) for 3/4 of my regular salary.

It was the best move/decision/professional growth experience EVER! I would highly recommend it if you can afford it. I did it to coincide with turning 50, 25 years of continuous teaching and needing the last 9 credits to get to the top of the teaching scale. Ironically, my Dad had a stroke and I was also able to clean out, prep and sell his house while on sabbatical~and he lived 600 miles away.

There was a blessing in disguise in that situation.

I would suggest talking to your HR person or Union/Association rep. as to the procedure. If it's not for FMLA, you might be required to give them a certain amount of notice. I had to let my district know by April 30 of the year prior to the one in which I planned to take sabbatical.

[Snort]

Thanks, all! I'll have to find a better excuse than "burnt out".

[teachbeach]

We've had people take them for restoration of health, but they are exceptional cases. One woman had several mini strokes, although she would always bounce back to full capacity, she and her physician wanted to see if job was cause of stress and was ready to write all kinds of documentation for her care for the year she was going to take off. She ended up retiring instead.

Another woman had gone through chemo during the summer and just wasn't physically ready (plus felt she had lost her summer due to treatments) to return in the Fall, and she was allowed to take a semester off for "restoration of health". There have been others, but it is an orchestrated ordeal to accomplish.

Good Luck~if you can get an education leave, go for it!