School board made right call on funeral leave policy
The Medford School Board last week made the right call, for the right reasons when members voted for a limited expansion in school staff funeral leave.
The school district, like many other employers, has longstanding leave policies which give employees paid time off to attend funerals for close family members and loved ones.
The policy grants time for close relatives, recognizing that, in addition to dealing with the grief of loss, there is an entire business side from planning a funeral to dealing with financial institutions and legal aspects of death.
The change approved last week would extend one additional day of paid funeral leave outside of the extended family group. The idea is to allow people the ability to attend funerals of a former coworker, neighbor or friend without needing to use other leave time for it.
In the past, it was common to have a visitation the night before the funeral services which allowed people who were unable to attend the services to show their respect and give condolences to the family. Due to a variety of reasons, it is more common to see funerals as singleday events with the visitation before the funeral service.
The school board, like other employers, wants to be accommodating to employees and respects the need to have time to grieve. However, just as with all other jobs, the work still has to get done.
In the case of schools, administration has to bring in substitute teachers and other staff which brings with it additional financial expense. If they can even find someone to fill the spot for the day. It is harder to measure the educational loss of having a teacher out of the classroom and a substitute taking their place.
The potential cost of the additional leave was the sticking point in the discussion between the competing proposals. The support staff favored an option that left funeral leave open-ended to include any number of funerals in a year, while the teachers’ request was for one additional day of funeral time to be available. Budgets are real, and the board and administration have a fiscal responsibility to the taxpayers to keep expenses under control. A limit on the amount of time off does this.
The district is far from being heartless in allowing employees time to grieve. In addition to the bereavement leave, the school district has traditionally allowed staff to use personal days, vacation and sick leave time for funerals. The district even allows workers to take their leave down to quarter-hour increments which allows them to miss a minimum amount of work while attending a service that is nearby.
In extending a limited amount of additional funeral leave, the board properly balanced the wants of the staff with the responsibility to the needs of the students and taxpayers in the district.
