The Lafayette Parish School Board has approved a staff recommendation that the board extend those 10 days through the end of the current fiscal year in June.
The extension allows employees to use the 10 days through June 30, 2021.
It was the only item on the agenda for Wednesday's special meeting: "The ten (10) day COVID leave provided our employees through the Families First Coronavirus Response Act of 2020 expired December 31, 2020. The Lafayette Parish School System proposes to allow those employees who have not exhausted those ten (10) days to continue to use them from January 1, 2021, through June 30, 2021."
An Iberia Parish School Board committee is recommending that the full board approve an extension of the 10 days of COVID leave required by the first CARES Act.
Last year, Congress required most employers to provide employees with 10 days of leave who are diagnosed with COVID or required to quarantine because of exposure. That requirement ended in December, and the new bill did not extend it. That left many employees, including teachers, with questions. Without those "free" leave days, would they have to use their own sick leave or annual leave?
We did a story about that last week, you can read it here.
The Vermilion Parish School Board will consider a staff recommendation to extend the leave later this month.
The Acadia Parish School System is for now extending the leave, pending board approval. The board will consider the staff's recommendation to extend the leave later this month.
In Jeff Davis Parish, the staff also is recommending the board extend the leave and that will be considered later this month.
St. Mary Parish School Board members will consider the issue at their meeting tomorrow.
St. Martin Parish officials are working on their recommendations now and will present to the board in February.
We're still waiting to hear back from St. Landry and Evangeline parishes.
The Iberia Parish School Board will consider its committee recommendation to do the same thing on January 20. Here's the post from the Iberia Parish Association of Educators explaining it:
