ARTICLE 18: SICK LEAVE, SICK LEAVE BANK, AND SICK LEAVE BUY BACK

A. All current professional staff members shall be entitled to fifteen (15) days of sick leave per year without loss of salary. Professional staff members hired after September 1, 1984 and who teach less than a five day week shall be eligible for pro-rated sick leave based upon the number of days employed per week. The accumulation of total sick leave days shall be unlimited. Deductions shall be at the rate of 1/184th of the yearly salary for each day of unexcused absence. A medical certificate may be required for all absences exceeding five (5) consecutive days. Sick leave is applicable when a professional staff member is absent for diagnostic purposes emergency in nature (to have X-rays taken or to be involved in a medical examination).

B. Sick leave in addition to personal illness shall include absence because of sickness on the part of a near relative: mother, father, husband, wife, children and members of the immediate household where care of such person is the prime responsibility of the professional staff member and only until other appropriate arrangements can be made. It shall also cover absence because of the death of those previously mentioned and, in addition, grandparents, grandchildren, sisters, brothers, parents-in-law, sisters and brothers-in-law, aunts, uncles, friends.

C. Professional staff members employed in summer workshops for ten (10) or more days shall receive one (1) day of sick leave or sick leave equivalent to five (5) per cent of the employment period, whichever is greater.

D. In October of each year professional staff member will be notified in writing of the number of accumulated sick days and of the number of sick days taken in the previous year.

E. A Sick Leave Bank shall be available for use by eligible members of the professional staff covered by this Agreement who have exhausted their own sick leave and who have serious illness. Applications for the use of the Sick Leave Bank are issued by the Director of Human Resources.

1. The initial grant of sick leave by the Sick Leave Bank Committee to an eligible professional staff member shall not exceed thirty (30) days. Upon completion of the thirty (30) day period the period of entitlement may be extended by the Sick Leave Bank Committee upon demonstration of need by the applicant.

2. The Sick Leave Bank shall be administered by a Sick Leave Bank Committee consisting of five (5) members. Two (2) members shall be designated by the Superintendent to serve at his/her discretion and three (3) members shall be designated by the LEA. The Sick Leave Bank Committee shall determine the eligibility for the use of the bank and the amount of leave to be granted.

3. The following criteria shall be used by the Sick Leave Bank Committee in administering the Sick Leave Bank in their determination of eligibility and amount of leave:

a. Adequate medical evidence of serious illness,
b. Prior exhaustion of all eligible sick leave,
c. Length of service in the Lexington Public School System,
d. Prior utilization of the Sick Leave Bank

4. When the Sick Leave Bank is reduced to fifty (50) days, it shall be renewed by
contribution of one (1) additional day of sick leave from each member of the
professional staff covered by this Agreement. Such additional day will be deducted from
the members' annual fifteen (15) days of sick leave.The Sick Leave Bank Committee
shall determine the time when it becomes necessary to replenish the bank.

5. The decision of the Sick Leave Bank Committee with respect to eligibility and entitlement shall be final and not subject to appeal.

F. After fifteen (15) years of service in the Lexington Public Schools, professional staff having accumulated one hundred fifty (150) days of sick leave shall be entitled to one-half (1/2) pay for additional days up to a maximum of fifty (50) days on one year's notice of intent to retire from teaching. Such written notice shall be given no later than September of the school year of retirement. Such payment shall be made on retirement.

This provision applies only to professional staff members employed on or before October 6, 1987.

G. There shall be no loss of salary, benefits, or sick leave allowances when an employee is advised by
her physician to avoid exposure to Fifth Disease during pregnancy. The employee must submit a written request from her doctor to the Principal and Director of Human Resources as soon as possible after the outbreak and must include the results of the medical test for immunity to fifth disease. Should an extended absence from a particular building be necessary, the employee will be assigned to other appropriate duties in the school system.