Despite roadblocks from state, WCPS will remain closed Nov. 12

Wayne County Public Schools employees — classified and certified — will still get to take a long weekend this week, but state rules are requiring a bit of a change of plans, district officials announced Friday.

Employees and students will still be off, but the extra day will be classified differently to meet state requirements, Superintendent Dr. David Lewis said. All WCPS staff members also will get a small retention bonus, he said.

WCPS attorney Richard Schwartz said Wayne County was one of many districts across the state that approved a Wellness Day for Nov. 12, the day after an already-scheduled holiday on Nov. 11 for Veterans Day.

The concept behind the day off was to reward teachers and staff for their hard work by giving them an extra day off with pay, board members said.

Chairman Chris West made the Wellness Day suggestion at the board’s Oct. 21 meeting, which was unanimously approved.

Wayne County was one of many districts that approved Wellness Day plans, Schwartz said.

“After that happened, the state issued a memo on Oct. 29, citing restrictions against canceling the school day for students and staff,” he said.

The attorney added that Wayne County’s decision did not affect the required school days or instructional hours for students.

“But the decision that was made for a paid day off, the state said was beyond the authority of the local school district to do simply as a paid day off,” he said. “The state makes distinctions between the leave days the instructional (licensed) staff get and the leave days that classified staff get.”

The difference, Schwartz said, is that classified staff — bus drivers, cafeteria workers, custodial and maintenance staff, for example — do not have the opportunity to work remotely and must be present in the building to do their jobs.

“Within those restrictions, the board has to reconsider the Wellness Day for Nov. 12,” he said.

Schwartz said that he worked with the administration to come up with a reasonable alternative — “a legal way of addressing this and getting to a very similar result.”

Lewis said the board’s action on behalf of the employees was appreciated.

“This has been quite a semester so far. Everybody recognizes that. Staffing shortages, COVID concerns, all of that has led to the need to recognize the health and wellness of our staff, so I applaud all your efforts to do that,” he said.

Lewis proposed to the board that two different classifications to still offer the same day off. The district will close Nov. 12, with all students off.

For licensed professional staff, Lewis said Nov. 12 will be a “remote day of reflection” in keeping with the expectation among the staff and their evaluations that “they reflect on their practice in an effort to plan and get better as they move forward.”

“We want to offer them the opportunity to do that remotely since our buildings will be closed that day,” Lewis said.

These employees will receive their pay for the day and also will receive a $100 retention bonus in their December paychecks, the superintendent said.

For classified staff, since the buildings will be closed, they cannot come to work. And since they cannot work remotely, they cannot be paid a salary for that day off, Lewis said.

To offset that loss, Lewis suggested that classified employees be paid retention bonuses of $150 for employees who work less than 20 hours a week and $300 for employees who work greater than or equal to 20 hours a week in their December paychecks.

Board member Len Henderson made the motion to approve the proposal, but asked Lewis to clarify where the money will come to pay for the retention bonuses.

“We just went through a lot of financial issues with this board,” Henderson said. “I want to make sure we can afford to do this.”

The superintendent said the money for both the classified and licensed retention bonuses will come from the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) Fund money provided to school districts across the country to help with education recovery and capital projects related to health and safety in the wake of the COVID 19 pandemic.

Lewis said in the ESSER spending plan submitted to and approved by the state Department of Education Wayne County included a line item for retention bonuses. That money is to keep and to reward good staff whose expertise will contribute to the education recovery necessitated by the COVID 19 pandemic.

He said the district has funds in both the retention line item and in an unbudgeted reserve.

The board approved the measure unanimously.