OP here--While the sick leave debate has been interesting, I'm still wondering if anyone in Urban Mom Land has taught for both counties and has any input on that. Thanks!!

Anonymous wrote:The reason most teachers I know attempt to accrue as much sick leave as possible is so that they do not have to 1) take their maternity leave entirely unpaid and 2) actually have sick leave to use when children are inevitably sick.

Agreed! Also, I've never known a teacher to use unused leave toward retirment. I'm sure it's happened somewhere at some time, but nobody at my school has done so in the 10 years I've been teaching here. Most just use or lose because even after 20-30 years teaching, they still care about their students. I have seen administrators use leave to retire in the middle of the school year, but that's not nearly as disruptive to students.

This is Arlington's policy:

Employees with satisfactory performance records who qualify and retire under the Virginia Retirement System or the Arlington County Retirement System are paid for 50 percent of their accumulated sick leave, based on their salary at the time of retirement. In the event of
death of an employee, payment for all accumulated sick leave, based on the employee's salary at time of death will be paid to the legal representative of the deceased.

In Fairfax unused leave can be used as service credit at retirement (not towards early retirement) IF that employee was hired PRIOR TO 2001, but the employee is not directly paid for it.

From the FCPS website:
Unused Sick Leave cannot be used to reach vesting or to make you eligible for early retirement. However, if you are a fully vested FCPS employee, age 55 or older at the time you terminate employment, your Unused Sick Leave may be used to meet the 25-year service requirement for full ERFC benefits.

FCPS employees hired on or after July 1, 2001 and covered under the ERFC-2001 benefit structure are not eligible to convert their unused sick leave into retirement service credit.

Anonymous wrote:

I have a problem with it because sick leave should be used for when you're sick, not accrued in "cashed in" as a reward for not being sick. That actually creates an incentive to come to work sick, which is the opposite intent of having a sick leave policy in the first place. I think this is a holdover of union-negotiated benefits. I'm certainly not anti-union by any stretch, but I find the accumulation of sick leave to be a really bad policy and an abuse of taxpayer dollars. Use it when you're sick, not as a reward for trudging through.

Hmmm...You made me think. I'm a pretty healthy person and rarely miss work. I should start burning up that leave now. After 20 years I do have a lot of leave saved up. I think it's a little over 900 hours. I know we can use it towards retirement credit, but really, what's a half year when compared to the 30+ years I'll have in at that point? I'm not having any more kids. Even if I use ten days a year, I still have those 900 hours saved up.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP here.
You can transfer up to 90 days of sick leave into ACPS if you are coming directly from another VA district.

http://www.apsva.us/cms/lib2/VA01000586/Centricity/Shared/school%20board%20policies/35-5-03-sick-leave-pip.pdf

I'm a little appalled that you people get to accrue sick leave like that. And I'm a supporter of public school teachers. That's just not right.

Oh boy. Here we go.
"You people"?

What's wrong with building up leave? It's not like a teacher can take off for a month and go on vacation with it. It has to be used as sick leave and after a few days in a row needs to be approved. When a teacher retires from FCPS, he/she doesn't get paid for unused leave.

This was my chief problem with it. Thank you for clarifying that.

Actually, I think you can use sick leave toward retirement credit. So maybe you don't get paid, but if you have a few months of leave accrued, that can be used toward your years worked.

Ok, THAT I have a problem with.

Why? The reason the teacher has built up sick leave it's because the teacher hasn't been taking leave over the years, but has been showing up to work. So he/she gets to retire three months early after showing up to work consistently over many, many years. Seriously, people can be so petty about stuff!

I have a problem with it because sick leave should be used for when you're sick, not accrued in "cashed in" as a reward for not being sick. That actually creates an incentive to come to work sick, which is the opposite intent of having a sick leave policy in the first place. I think this is a holdover of union-negotiated benefits. I'm certainly not anti-union by any stretch, but I find the accumulation of sick leave to be a really bad policy and an abuse of taxpayer dollars. Use it when you're sick, not as a reward for trudging through.

What's wrong with building up leave? It's not like a teacher can take off for a month and go on vacation with it. It has to be used as sick leave and after a few days in a row needs to be approved. When a teacher retires from FCPS, he/she doesn't get paid for unused leave.

This was my chief problem with it. Thank you for clarifying that.

Actually, I think you can use sick leave toward retirement credit. So maybe you don't get paid, but if you have a few months of leave accrued, that can be used toward your years worked.

Ok, THAT I have a problem with.

I know! Can you imagine!? It's not like teachers don't get enough perqs - the high salary, the generous benefits package, the golden parachutes and the incredible snowflakes and parents they get to work with. It's not like some of them went without a pay raise for a couple of years or that they have to use their own money for supplies. Imagine them getting to accrue leave balances! If they really want to accrue sick leave, they should go into federal service where there is no limit on sick leave accrual.

The reason most teachers I know attempt to accrue as much sick leave as possible is so that they do not have to 1) take their maternity leave entirely unpaid and 2) actually have sick leave to use when children are inevitably sick.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP here.
You can transfer up to 90 days of sick leave into ACPS if you are coming directly from another VA district.

http://www.apsva.us/cms/lib2/VA01000586/Centricity/Shared/school%20board%20policies/35-5-03-sick-leave-pip.pdf

I'm a little appalled that you people get to accrue sick leave like that. And I'm a supporter of public school teachers. That's just not right.

Oh boy. Here we go.
"You people"?

What's wrong with building up leave? It's not like a teacher can take off for a month and go on vacation with it. It has to be used as sick leave and after a few days in a row needs to be approved. When a teacher retires from FCPS, he/she doesn't get paid for unused leave.

This was my chief problem with it. Thank you for clarifying that.

Actually, I think you can use sick leave toward retirement credit. So maybe you don't get paid, but if you have a few months of leave accrued, that can be used toward your years worked.

Ok, THAT I have a problem with.

Why? The reason the teacher has built up sick leave it's because the teacher hasn't been taking leave over the years, but has been showing up to work. So he/she gets to retire three months early after showing up to work consistently over many, many years. Seriously, people can be so petty about stuff!

Why?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP here.
You can transfer up to 90 days of sick leave into ACPS if you are coming directly from another VA district.

http://www.apsva.us/cms/lib2/VA01000586/Centricity/Shared/school%20board%20policies/35-5-03-sick-leave-pip.pdf

I'm a little appalled that you people get to accrue sick leave like that. And I'm a supporter of public school teachers. That's just not right.

Oh boy. Here we go.
"You people"?

What's wrong with building up leave? It's not like a teacher can take off for a month and go on vacation with it. It has to be used as sick leave and after a few days in a row needs to be approved. When a teacher retires from FCPS, he/she doesn't get paid for unused leave.

This was my chief problem with it. Thank you for clarifying that.

Actually, I think you can use sick leave toward retirement credit. So maybe you don't get paid, but if you have a few months of leave accrued, that can be used toward your years worked.

Ok, THAT I have a problem with.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP here.
You can transfer up to 90 days of sick leave into ACPS if you are coming directly from another VA district.

http://www.apsva.us/cms/lib2/VA01000586/Centricity/Shared/school%20board%20policies/35-5-03-sick-leave-pip.pdf

I'm a little appalled that you people get to accrue sick leave like that. And I'm a supporter of public school teachers. That's just not right.

Oh boy. Here we go.
"You people"?

What's wrong with building up leave? It's not like a teacher can take off for a month and go on vacation with it. It has to be used as sick leave and after a few days in a row needs to be approved. When a teacher retires from FCPS, he/she doesn't get paid for unused leave.

This was my chief problem with it. Thank you for clarifying that.

Actually, I think you can use sick leave toward retirement credit. So maybe you don't get paid, but if you have a few months of leave accrued, that can be used toward your years worked.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP here.
You can transfer up to 90 days of sick leave into ACPS if you are coming directly from another VA district.

http://www.apsva.us/cms/lib2/VA01000586/Centricity/Shared/school%20board%20policies/35-5-03-sick-leave-pip.pdf

I'm a little appalled that you people get to accrue sick leave like that. And I'm a supporter of public school teachers. That's just not right.

Oh boy. Here we go.
"You people"?

What's wrong with building up leave? It's not like a teacher can take off for a month and go on vacation with it. It has to be used as sick leave and after a few days in a row needs to be approved. When a teacher retires from FCPS, he/she doesn't get paid for unused leave.

This was my chief problem with it. Thank you for clarifying that.

Anonymous wrote:22:54 a lt of jobs let you accrue a certain amount of leave. My military spouse can accrue 90 days ( but can only carry over 60 when the new fiscal year starts)

That's annual leave. All of the military sick leave can be carried over from year to year.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP here.
You can transfer up to 90 days of sick leave into ACPS if you are coming directly from another VA district.

http://www.apsva.us/cms/lib2/VA01000586/Centricity/Shared/school%20board%20policies/35-5-03-sick-leave-pip.pdf

I'm a little appalled that you people get to accrue sick leave like that. And I'm a supporter of public school teachers. That's just not right.

Oh boy. Here we go.
"You people"?

What's wrong with building up leave? It's not like a teacher can take off for a month and go on vacation with it. It has to be used as sick leave and after a few days in a row needs to be approved. When a teacher retires from FCPS, he/she doesn't get paid for unused leave.

Plus teachers need sick leave, especially in the younger grades. They are exposed to all the germs our children bring to school. They need to take off when they are sick or risk spreading it to the read of the school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP here.
You can transfer up to 90 days of sick leave into ACPS if you are coming directly from another VA district.

http://www.apsva.us/cms/lib2/VA01000586/Centricity/Shared/school%20board%20policies/35-5-03-sick-leave-pip.pdf

I'm a little appalled that you people get to accrue sick leave like that. And I'm a supporter of public school teachers. That's just not right.

Oh boy. Here we go.
"You people"?

What's wrong with building up leave? It's not like a teacher can take off for a month and go on vacation with it. It has to be used as sick leave and after a few days in a row needs to be approved. When a teacher retires from FCPS, he/she doesn't get paid for unused leave.