North Pike is taking away two holidays to help make up for days missed due to snow and ice.
Superintendent Dennis Penton said Thursday at the monthly board meeting that the district would make up two of the four days the district was closed in December and January. The other two days will be considered “administrative leave,” which will allow the district to pay all staff for those missed days.
The days to be made up will be taken on March 16, the Friday of spring break week, and on March 30, Good Friday.
“How many students do you think will show up (spring break) Friday?” board member Kevin Matthew asked.
Penton said days tacked onto the end of the year would probably be more poorly attended, but there’s a reason to make up the days earlier.
“The point of doing it like this is to make up some instructional time before state testing,” Penton said. “Those are the days that would be least disruptive.”
Board member Jamie Jackson said many people have scheduled big vacation trips through the whole week of spring break, including himself and his family.
“I’m sorry, my little girl won’t be here that day,” he said. “I’m sure some of our employees have done the same thing. Are we going to penalize them?”
He said, under district policy, employees who don’t come to work the day after a holiday are docked that day’s pay, even if they use a personal day.
The board discussed possibly waiving the policy for any staff who could prove they already had expensive plans made for the day or week, but ultimately let the policy stand for the day.
“We want to do good for the adults, but we have to do what it best for the children,” board President Etta Taplin said.
“We’ve got a policy,” board member Freddie Deer added. “If we don’t follow it now, the next time we have a problem, what are we going to do?”
Penton reminded the board that his recommendation is giving employees two days with pay that won’t be made up.
Matthew also floated the idea of making up the days on Saturdays, but Penton said that brought other problems.
“The problem wth Saturdays is, we run into an overtime issue,” he said. “We also might not have bus drivers, so there’s a transportation issue. Our bus drivers have other jobs on the weekend or after school gets out, so we have the same problem with extended days, and that also is an overtime issue.”
The board approved the make-up schedule 3-1, with Jackson voting no. Board member Scott Campbell was absent.
