WSSDA%205400.pdf

Parent document: Regular Board Meeting-09-25-2024.pdf

Text

DECEMBER 2021

OTHER UPDATES

Policy 5400-Personnel Leaves Policy 54:L0-Holidays
Category: ESSENTIAL Category: DISCRETIONARY

Earlier this fall, Governor Inslee issued Proclamation
21.14, requiring K-12 staff to be vaccinated against CO-
VID-19 or obtain a medical or religious exemption. In Oc-
tober, WSSDA revised three model policies to help school
districts respond to the various scenarios they might face
as they implemented the proclamation. These revisions
included updating Model Policy 5400 - Personnel Leaves
to provide an option for districts that might wish to use
unpaid leave to respond to an employee who refuses to
comply with the vaccine requirement.

With the passage of House Bill (HB) 1016 - Juneteenth
- Legal Holiday, WSSDA has updated this policy to

include Juneteenth as a legal state holiday. Juneteenth is
celebrated on June 19 as day of remembrance for June
19, 1865, when news finally reached African slaves in
Galveston, Texas, that the Civil War had ended and that all
enslaved persons were now released from the bondage of
slavery. This occurred two and a half years after President
Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation and two
months after the end of the Civil War.

At that time, the legal consensus was that the Office of
the Superintendent for Public Instruction (OSPI) would
likely find this approach to be acceptable. However, OSPI Policy 6220 -Bid or Request for Proposal Requirements
has now determined that indefinite unpaid leave is not Category: ESSENTIAL

authorized under the proclamation, and that unpaid leave
iS an acceptable response only in circumstances where
employees were in the process of completing their CO-
VID-19 vaccinations but could not complete that process
by October 18, 2021 or where employees were in the
process of obtaining approval for their exemption/accom-
modation but had not yet completed that process.

WSSDA has revised this policy to add language providing
for conducting a cost or price analysis. The revisions
also address interlocal cooperative agreements. Other
revisions serve to clarify self-certification options.

Upon learning of OSPI’s determination, WSSDA has fur-
ther tailored the revisions to this policy to ensure school
districts’ use is in compliance. Please note that school
districts need to work with their own attorney and review
collective bargaining agreements and other possible
specific circumstances before implementing a response
using either a nondisciplinary dismissal or an unpaid
leave approach.

Photo by Allison Shelley for EDUimages

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