Caddo Parish committee recommends tightening staff leave rules, adds independent verification option

The Caddo Parish School Board Policy Review Committee on June 3 recommended that the full board consider revisions to two personnel policies aimed at reducing employee absenteeism and stabilizing classroom instruction.

Superintendent Burton told the committee the district is confronting “huge chronic absenteeism and truancy” among students and has identified parallel absenteeism among staff that disrupts instruction. "Attendance matters," Burton said, arguing the proposed changes will improve consistency and accountability across schools.

The proposal would: require 24-hour notice for professional leave except in emergencies; require a written request form (not a text message) for approved leave; clarify that a physician's note is required after six consecutive sick days and specify what that note must include (physician letterhead, employee printed name and a return-to-work date); and, for absences on the day before or the day after a holiday, require a doctor's note to justify the absence.

Committee members pressed staff on enforcement and scope. Barry Rochelle asked whether urgent-care visits would qualify; Burton replied that notes from physicians, physician assistants or nurse practitioners are acceptable. Burton also said HIPAA limits what the district may ask about medical details and emphasized supervisors will be trained to follow the policy so Human Resources and payroll can accurately track documentation.

Katie McLean proposed an amendment to add the word "independent" to the sentence reserving the board's right to require verification of illness; the committee voted to send the amendment along with the policy recommendation to the full board. Staff described a district arrangement with a third-party physician, named in the meeting as Dr. Michelangelo, who can see employees within roughly 24–36 hours when HR flags a questionable extended absence. Burton said two pilot uses of the third-party physician resulted in one employee resigning and another retiring after the independent exam.

Committee members asked about cost and recoupment. Staff said the district pays the third-party professional fee (mentioned during the meeting as approximately $200 per exam) and that recouping that expense from employees is unlikely. Committee discussion framed the fee as an administrative cost offset by the savings from avoiding long-term substitute pay and lost instruction time when abuse is confirmed.

Audience speakers and committee members urged balance. Visitor Jackie Lansdown, representing Redbird United, urged the board not to "just point fingers" and to use support services such as EAP when employees show signs of personal or mental-health struggles. Dr. Dobson and several committee members repeated that the proposed rules are aimed at a small proportion of employees and intended to protect daily instruction for students.

Staff also described other clarifications in the draft policy: supervisors must collect and forward physician notes to HR (some missing documentation historically remained at school sites), and progressive discipline procedures will apply when employees repeatedly fail to comply. The committee discussed existing benefits and retirement rules: staff noted employees are paid for 25 sick days at retirement and that a sick-leave bank exists to accept donated days.

The committee moved and seconded a recommendation that the full Caddo Parish School Board consider the proposed revisions to policy GBRIA (personnel leave) and GBRIB (sick leave) at the board meeting on June 17, 2025. The committee also approved a motion to add the word "independent" to the policy language on verification of illness and recommended that amendment to the board.

The committee chair, Dottie Bell, closed the committee meeting after formal motions and votes to forward the policies and the amendment to the board for consideration.