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Bastrop ISD teacher urges district to adopt bereavement leave after personal loss
Summary
A teacher used open forum to ask the board to add bereavement leave for employees after a family member's death; the superintendent did not reply directly to the speaker during the public comment exchange.
A Bastrop ISD teacher, Savannah Shaver, addressed the board during the open forum to urge the district to adopt a bereavement leave policy for employees.
Shaver said she is a five‑year district employee and described a recent personal tragedy: her sister’s husband died by suicide two weeks earlier. She said she took three unpaid days to support her sister, notified her principal and other supervisors and received warm responses from some administrators but said she received “a very scripted, lukewarm response” from district leadership and no response from the superintendent. Shaver told trustees the district does not offer bereavement leave and asked the board to adopt such a policy to show support for employees facing loss.
Shaver said she had to choose between paying bills and being with her family and described the absence of bereavement leave as “shameful” and “embarrassing.” Her remarks were part of the meeting’s public comment period; trustees did not take action during the meeting, and no board response directed a policy change at the time.
