June 15, 2021 at 5:30 PM - Bedford County Board of Education

Discussion:  Dr. Garrett -  The only change was second page line 4. 
Boutwell - Are we following federal holidays?
Garrett - Yes
Boutwell - There will be a new holiday coming up.
Reed - The one week I would like to discuss is Horseshow week. That week is different than it was years ago. I feel like that week would be the busiest week for central office. Would like to know what the board thinks about keeping that week.
Neeley - Just central office and supervisors?
Reed - Yes
Cashion - I think that is why school opens before the horseshow break, to kind of get things going and then they have a break.
Reed - I am with the board, this is just a discussion.
Crews - I would also question if there is a certain amount of time before someone gets the 5 vacation days. Someone who starts July 1 could technically take off 5 days immediately.
Garrett - It would have to be approved by the supervisor.
Crews - I would recommend a 6 month period before one could take those days
Neeley - It says that an employee could take 5 whole vacation days after 1 year of employment. Is that what you mean?
Crews - So would they not get those 5 days until after 1 year of employment?
Neeley - Yes, that is how I read it.
Garrett - We could definitely add this to administrative directives.
Robert Daniel (Finance Director)- Could I add to this? We have had this issue come up before. What I would suggest is that the employee accrues .83 vacation hours a month. In 6 months, that would equal 5 days.
Crews - I think after 6 months they should be able to take the 5 vacation days.
Cook - Are we talking about supervisors?
Garrett - All 12-month employees, those considered working year around.
Garrett - We could strike line 4 and add accrue .83 hours a month
Crews - Back to what Dan was discussing, leaving central office would be like a ghost town with everyone gone. Should central office be off during that busy time?
Forsee - Is it mandatory that they be off that week? If someone wants to work, could they come in?
Garrett - No
Forsee - If I came in 2 days that week, could I get 2 days another time?
Garrett - No
Forsee - Should this be in policy? These tiny details?
Garrett - I think it should be.
Neeley - I have a question for Robert Daniel: if an employee works 261 days, which is considered year around, if we add the hours to their salary, are they actually getting paid for those days?
Robert - Yes, it is paid time off.
Garrett - We talked about this last time, and restructuring the hours during the work day. We don't need to be paid on days we are not working.
Cook - My only thing about the horseshow week is what are the employees missing that week? Is there anything that week since we have historically been off? 
Garrett - Lets ask someone who has worked here before during the horseshow week.
Julie Haynes (SpEd supervisor) - This is our busiest time of year. We spend the summer working on opening the schools in August. Even if someone registers, we refer them to the school and with the schools closed, there isn't much that they can do.
Brown - So would it be crippling to work during the horseshow break and schools are closed? 
Julie - Yes.
Crews - I don't think we can use the word crippling, there is always something that can be done, planning, research. There is always work.
Cashion - I think that is why they work so hard during the summer, looking forward to that break. They do work a lot during the summer to get schools up and running for that break. 
Crews - Ok, well they just took a spring break before summer break and did not have to use a single vacation day.