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Danville employees press board to change sick-bank policy as union outlines insurance-relief request
Summary
At a Danville CCSD 118 board meeting, employees and the Danville Education Association urged changes to the district sick‑bank policy and described steep health‑insurance increases; the board said it will review the unionproposal.
At a Danville Community Unit School District 118 Board of Education meeting, a special‑education teacher and the Danville Education Association pressed the board to revise the district's sick‑bank policy and consider one‑time premium relief after the district's health insurance renewal produced large rate and deductible increases.
The issue drew public comment from Anna Kelly, a special‑education teacher, and support from county resident Mike Anderson and Allen Rivers, president of the Danville Education Association (DEA). Kelly described repeated denials of sick‑bank leave she requested and said the district's application process and eligibility wording make assistance nearly impossible to obtain.
Kelly said she applied for sick‑bank leave "my 4th time" and that under the district contract she expected a committee response "within 5 working days." She told the board she received no timely answer and, after months of procedures and appeal, a denial on Jan. 13. Kelly said her medical records document multiple surgeries and ongoing, escalating medical need: "All the dates, office visits, and surgeries have been medically necessary and pertinent to my recovery..." She also said she has had 12 surgeries and faces several more operations, including procedures affecting her airway.
Why it matters: the sick bank and insurance changes affect staff pay and attendance, and may influence recruitment and retention across the district. The DEA told the board it negotiated a memorandum of agreement (MOA) between the union and district to adjust sick‑bank language and donation limits and urged the board to place that MOA on the agenda for board action.
Allen Rivers, DEA president, described the union's work on health insurance renewals and the options the union and administration considered. Rivers said the district faced a Blue Cross Blue Shield renewal that was initially 43% higher and that negotiating and plan design changes reduced the ask to roughly $2.3 million for the district's renewal. Rivers said the committee added three plan tiers (gold, silver and bronze) and a $300 spousal surcharge to control costs.
Rivers asked the board for a one‑time premium relief package to reduce staff out‑of‑pocket costs. He said the figures he presented were for DEA members and their families and that 473 members currently carry district coverage. In his remarks he referred to a relief total that the transcript records as "$1,000,000,44,456" and later discussed $144,000 as an amount related to DEA members; the transcript language was unclear on the final totals and allocation. Rivers said the relief could be structured as six months of "pre‑premium holidays" (every other month covered) or as a 50% reduction in employee contributions for a year, and he emphasized the measure would provide direct relief to employees but would not itself replenish the insurance fund.
Board response and next steps: board members acknowledged the presentation and said they would study the renewal and the DEA's request. A board member said, "we'll have to go over this and decide what we're gonna do," indicating the matter will return for further discussion; no board vote was taken on the MOA or on premium relief during the meeting.
Community context and details: the union says the MOA would change sick‑bank eligibility language (striking the word "catastrophic" and replacing it with "severe" and removing a "life‑threatening" descriptor), increase donation limits (the MOA as described would change donated days from 20 to 30 and the career maximum from 40 to 60), and was submitted to administration on Jan. 6 and previously at a labor‑management meeting in Sept. 2024. Kelly said the sick‑bank committee did not respond within contract timeframes and that denials left her without paid leave when she missed work.
The board did not vote on any of the sick‑bank changes or on the DEA's requested premium relief at this meeting; the union asked the board to place the MOA on a future agenda for formal consideration.
Ending: Board members said they would review the MOA and insurance‑renewal materials and return with more information at a later meeting. The DEA and employees urged quicker action; public commenters asked the board to explain objections if it chooses not to adopt the MOA.
