North Cook News

The Norridge Schools superintendent recently brought to the board a discussion about a district policy.

There is a policy about sick leave, vacation days, holidays, and personal leave. It is a two-tiered system based on if the employee was employed before or after July 2013 and does not differentiate between employees who work 10, 11, or 12 months out of the year. Those employed before the deadline can get up to 20 days of sick leave a year after 15 years of employment while those employed after just get 10 a year.

The superintendent wants to change these policies for employees who work 12 months out of the year. So paraprofessionals or support staff who work 10 or 11 months respectively would not see any changes. Because the 12-month employees are very valuable to the district and are highly trained in their areas, the superintendent wants to see a change that creates more incentives via sick leave programs. 

"So just to be clear, this board policy applies to educational support personnel. So it doesn't cover anyone with a contract. It doesn't cover anyone that is under the collective bargaining agreement. So these are paraprofessionals, administrative assistants and maintenance people," Norridge Schools superintendent Michele Guzik said at a Nov. 15 NSD80 board of education meeting.

The change would revert to the old structure prior to July 2013, which gave more sick time and allowed the accumulation of even more sick time. This change would also follow the same structure with holidays and vacation day policies as well, expanding the 12-month employee opportunities but keeping 10- and 11-month opportunities the same. The board will discuss this further and vote on it at a later board meeting.