Murray District outlines multiple personnel and curriculum policy updates; parental/postpartum leave expanded

The Murray City School District board reviewed a package of personnel and curriculum policy updates during its regular meeting.

Director Dean presented first readings of multiple policies and sought board approval for the district’s Positive Behavior Support plans. The board approved the PBIS plans by voice vote.

On parental and postpartum leave, Dean said the district’s update implements state changes that provide 15 days of paid postpartum leave for employees who give birth and 15 days of parental leave for spouses or adopting parents. “If you’re having a child, it’s 6 weeks,” Dean said, summarizing how the district’s postpartum and parental leave run together and align with FMLA.

Dean said the update expands eligibility to education support professionals (ESPs) who previously were ineligible and clarified that the district’s parental/postpartum leave runs concurrently with FMLA. Board members asked for clarification on previous policy practice and were told that ESPs had not been eligible under prior language. “So this greatly expands the benefit,” a board member said.

The board also heard a first reading of substantial updates to the educator evaluation policy to align with the Utah State Board of Education model. The changes include updated definitions, certified evaluators recertifying every five years, a four-year summative evaluation cycle for career educators, and stronger evidence and observation requirements for administrators.

Assistant Superintendent (speaker 19) presented curriculum-related policy changes including instructional material selection rules that would require curriculum materials to be available for public review for a set period before adoption; the board received the first reading. The superintendent described updates to the district’s homeschool policy to reflect state law (Utah Code 53G-6-204), including a one-time notification requirement and the district’s limited role once a family chooses to homeschool.

Several sick-leave policy tweaks (SP947 for ESPs and SP927 for educators) were brought forward to restrict the use of unlimited sick leave to extend parental/postpartum leave except in qualifying medical circumstances.

The board did not take final votes on first-read policy items; those will return for additional consideration in subsequent meetings or study sessions. Director Dean said staff will produce a clean, one-page summary for employees to explain the changes in plain language.

Next steps: first-read items will return for additional review or a subsequent vote; PBIS plans were approved and administrators will implement them at school sites.