The Pleasant Valley School Board approved Memorandums of Understanding last week with the teachers union and support staff union.

The Memorandums of Understanding between the school district and the Pleasant Valley Educational Association (the teachers union) was a revision of the Family Medical Leave Act policy. Updates included:

• An employee who requests FMLA leave and qualifies for it is required to use all earned sick leave concurrent with the FMLA leave. They are also permitted to use personal and vacation days.

• The MOU was made a part of the Collective Bargaining Agreement.

• This MOU does not change or modify any other part of the Collective Bargaining Agreement.

• The agreement relates to the FMLA policy and if the Family Medical Leave Act changes, then it would impact this agreement.

Two MOUs involving personal days and classroom coverage were approved but not made public, because they were personnel matters.

In an interview after the school board meeting, Superintendent James Konrad said concerning the classroom coverage, the school district “decided that the remedy would be best to make the impacted teachers whole.” The teachers covered a class for another teacher on one particular day.

The Memorandum of Understanding between the school district and the Pleasant Valley Educational Support Professionals Association was to clarify language concerned non-instructional, flexible instruction days, and safety days. Konrad explained that a safety day may be used if the school district becomes aware of a potential safety threat.

Konrad said the school district implemented a safety day at the beginning of the school year because it received information of a potential threat. The Pennsylvania State Police were contacted, the matter was investigated, and nothing more came of it.

“We don’t want to bring students in when there is potential harm. We have to be prepared,” he said.

The items agreed upon by the school district and support staff in the MOU include:

• Custodial/maintenance staff will be paid time and a half for Nov. 22, 2024, which was a non-instructional snow day.

• Custodial/maintenance staff will be paid time and a half for all future non-instructional snow days. If they do not report to work, then they must use personal or vacation time for the absence. A doctor’s note is required if they use a sick day.

• The current non-instruction snow day schedule will remain the same for secretaries, bookkeepers and informational system technicians, and they have the option to work remotely.

• Secretaries, bookkeepers and informational system technicians have the option to work remotely on flexible instruction days, safety flexible instruction days and safety non-instructional days.

• Custodial/maintenance are to report to work for their regular shift as straight time on flexible instruction days. Employees whose shift is affected by a safety flexible instruction day or safety non-instructional day will remain on call until the buildings are clear and then must report for the remainder of their shifts without a loss of time in pay.