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School committee approves employee handbook edits, tightens nondiscrimination language and flags FMLA timing for legal review
Summary
The Holyoke School Committee voted to amend and approve updates to the employee handbook—standardizing nondiscrimination language and directing edits to align the FMLA 12-month period with district policy—while asking district counsel to confirm a public-records citation.
The Holyoke School Committee voted to approve a revised employee handbook that standardizes the district’s nondiscrimination statement and directs staff to align Family and Medical Leave Act timing with district policy.
Chair (Speaker 2) moved an amendment to the handbook’s nondiscrimination paragraph to state that "Holyoke Public Schools is an equal opportunity employer" and to list protected classes including race, color, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, pregnancy, disability, homelessness, religion, age and military or veteran status, along with any categories protected under state or federal law. The motion was seconded and approved by voice vote.
Committee members also identified a legal-precision issue in the handbook’s public-records section. A member said the handbook cited federal FOIA language where the district should instead cite Massachusetts law, noting "la de Massachusetts General es el capítulo 66 y 10" and asking staff to verify the correct citation with district attorneys before publication. The committee instructed staff to confirm the citation and make legal edits as needed.
During discussion, members flagged an inconsistency between the handbook and the district’s existing policies about how to calculate the FMLA 12-month period. The handbook read the period as a rolling calendar-year measure, while district policy treats the 12-month period according to the school system’s fiscal year. Members voted to amend language to reflect the district’s fiscal-year method and to remove the 'calendar year' phrasing, subject to confirmation by counsel and a final clean published version of the handbook.
The committee confirmed that the version approved during this meeting would be published as a clean copy (without tracked changes) once the outstanding legal clarifications and editorial fixes were made. No printed roll-call tallies were provided in the transcript for these votes; approvals were recorded by voice vote.
