An Ocala resident took to last night’s school board meeting to voice his concerns about the COVID-19 leave resolution for school employees coming to an end.
During Tuesday night’s meeting of the Marion County School Board, Ocala resident and Executive Director of the Marion Education Association Chris Altobello voiced concerns on the school board’s decision during a recent work session to let a COVID-19 leave resolution expire.
Under the current resolution, which is set to expire on October 31, after an employee has exhausted his/her accrued leave time, he/she may take an unpaid leave of absence for up to six weeks due to COVID-19 related reasons.
Earlier this month, board members decided to reduce that leave time to 10 days beginning November 1, with one board member commenting that 10 uncompensated days off is generous.
“Many of my colleagues in my same position across the state envied our COVID-19 leave provisions that we were able to employ here in Marion County. The employees I represent work in classrooms and other spaces that have anywhere from 15 to 30 children for up to 8 hours a day. Classrooms that were never equipped to maintain social distancing, and often with subpar or, in some cases, no ventilation,” said Altobello during Tuesday’s meeting.
He cited “tightly confined spaces” for bus drivers and aides and suggested that those recommending elimination of the provision were “not privileged to work in these environments on a daily basis.”
“You admit the cases are way down…That is a good sign as it means COVID-19 leave cases should be coming down. But this should not lead to the elimination of such a provision,” said Altobello. He suggested that even if the organization decided to eliminate the leave provision, he didn’t believe it necessary to force employees to exhaust “all personal leave” before the “10 days of uncompensated leave.”
“If Marion County Public Schools are so compassionate and generous, why not give employees the option to choose when to use the uncompensated leave,” asked Altobello. He went on to suggest that the board was cavalier in its discussions in eliminating COVID-19 protections, “as if schools and staff have returned to a state of normalcy.”
“And you did so last week while laughing and giggling at times during the discussion, using terms as ‘well taken care of’, ‘generous’, ‘compassionate’, ‘credibility with employees’, and you even wiped down the podium after one of the speakers while you were discussing eliminating COVID leave. We should be workshopping on how we can recruit and retain employees, rather than eliminate a health and safety provision while we are still in a pandemic,” said Altobello.
Altobello went on to cite hundreds of job vacancies across the county and suggested that the COVID-19 leave policy was a “life preserver” to some.
“Your employees are drowning right now. COVID-19 leave acts as a life preserver to some. What they need you to do is focus on how we can give them as much support as possible, not to overwhelmingly approve the elimination of a provision that supports those in a health crisis,” said Altobello.
He closed his remarks with a plea on behalf of his children, who are students in the district.
“[My children] are blessed to have wonderful teachers, support professionals, and administrators that enable them to succeed every day at school. Marion County Public Schools should reaffirm this one provision of support for staff across the district, for if it were not for your thousands of employees, children like mine would not be receiving the high quality instruction they benefit from each day.”