Kevin Hamrick wasn’t following the school board’s meeting on Tuesday, and didn’t know the board had resolved his grievance. He found out Wednesday and started chuckling giddily.
The administration at first denied his $750 cash out request because he missed a deadline set in the teachers’ union labor contract, so he filed a grievance. The Juneau Board of Education decided to pay the newly retired coach and teacher for his unused leave. The decision may affect a handful of other retiring teachers going forward.
Hamrick said he understood the superintendent’s position but was glad the school board found some flexibility in the labor contract language. He hopes it gets clarified so other retirees don’t lose the payout for their unused leave time, like he almost did.
During a grievance hearing earlier this month, Superintendent Bridget Weiss cautioned against sidestepping the precise language in the labor contract.
“If we dismiss the deadline — school year — and we don’t consider that a deadline, then we are deeming a deadline that was agreed upon in the negotiating process meaningless. And that is dangerous territory to go into,” Weiss said.
Weiss said the district has been “incredibly consistent” in its application of the cash out policy.
The school board panel said the contract wasn’t as clear cut as Weiss’ interpretation. The panel concluded that it was ambiguous about retiring teachers’ unused leave.
In its written recommendation, the panel said that teachers who accrue too much are automatically paid for their excess leave. Teachers who aren’t retiring automatically carry forward their leave time into the next school year.
“In every other scenario except this very, very narrow window, if he would have departed, he would have received that leave,” said school board member Brian Holst.
According to the panel, only retiring teachers appear to be at risk of forfeiting this benefit.
Hamrick’s situation isn’t unique. A handful of other retiring teachers have forfeited unused leave time. At KTOO’s request, the administration looked up exactly how much in recent years. In 2019 and 2020, retiring teachers forfeited about 40 days of unused leave time worth $6,105.
The cash-out option in the labor contract gives teachers a reason not to use up all their leave just for the sake of using it up, which generally means instructional benefits for students.
It also helps the district save money by not needing to hire substitute teachers as often. And the payout rate is much lower than a teacher’s salary for a day. A teacher at the bottom of the pay scale earns about $285 a day. The leave policy pays out $150 a day.
School board member Martin Stepetin said the administration didn’t err, but that Hamrick’s grievance highlighted a legitimate issue.
“If a teacher’s retiring and has leave on the books, I think that we have identified something that is important and that the panel believes that, in this case specifically, that person should not forfeit the hours,” Stepetin said.
The school board unanimously agreed with the grievance panel’s recommendations.
The labor contract between the school district and the teachers’ union is up for renegotiation in December.
Hamrick is in the process of moving to Texas. He said the money will help him with the move.
