Board reviews proposed personnel‑leave changes and adds substitute training language to safe‑schools policy

Moses Lake School District staff presented two policy revisions at the Sept. 4 board meeting: changes to Personnel Leave (policy 5400) and an update to Safe Schools (policy 3432) that would require substitute and temporary staff to receive basic emergency‑procedures training.

Personnel policy changes were described by a district staff member who identified the red (WASDA model) changes and blue (district) changes. The staff member said the revision would explicitly include employment agreements not represented in negotiated contracts, update leave units to reflect hourly leave when bargained, and add documentation requirements the district created after an audit. The presentation specifically proposed that coaching leave be limited to certificated personnel who have a supplemental contract for coaching; it would not extend to classified staff or volunteers. The presenter said the district will require documentation for bereavement and jury duty absences and will store supporting documents in the district’s Red Rover absence management system. "We use what's called Red Rover and it is an absence management system... people will upload their documentation into that system," the staff member said.

On safe‑schools policy 3432, district staff and board members discussed adding language to ensure substitutes and temporary employees receive training on drills, incident‑command awareness and emergency response. Scott West (district administrator) said substitutes "are in our buildings... they're in every building every day. And they are an essential part of performing the daily operations of the school. And so we need to get them trained and get that included in our in our existing policy." He said training could be delivered via the district office, building principals or an annual review format.

Board members asked for cross‑reference checks with collective bargaining agreements, clarification of where certifications would be documented and for procedures to specify reasonable timelines for follow‑up documentation when required. Staff said human resources would verify jury‑duty documentation and follow an established protocol that allows reasonable reminders and then converts the absence to paid or unpaid leave if documentation is not provided.

Both items were presented as revisions and not adopted at the meeting. Staff said they will bring additional language or implementation procedures back to the board for further reading and possible adoption.