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By JANE BANGLEY
Rappahannock News Staff Writer
The Rappahannock County School Board established a sabbatical leave policy for the system’s employees dur ing its meeting Tuesday.
The board had budgeted $15,000 for professional improvement, which includes sabbaticals for professional study. As sabbatical guidelines were considered, board member Paul Nichols questioned the ability of the Rappahannock system to offer sabbaticals.
“I look at sabbaticals as another fringe benefit we can offer employees,” said board member Randall Updike. “It will benefit the employee and the school system, too.”
Nichols said that he did not think the system would benefit in a noticeable way from one teacher taking a sabbatical to further his or her education. “I favored the idea at budget time, but now that I see it on paper, I don’t like it,” Nichols said.
Superintendent Robert Estabrook said that the system needs benefits like the possibility of a sabbatical for study to draw teachers to Rappahannock. “We have to have a way to compete more effectively for teachers, and maybe this will help,” Estabrook said.
The board set sabbatical guidelines that addressed concerns brought up by the members. The guidelines are: that a sabbatical for study may be taken for a minimum of one semester and a maximum of two semesters or the equivalent per year; that the teacher or other employefe has worked for the Rappahannock system for three years; that when the employee returns, he or she must stay with the system for three years or make appropriate financial arrangements; that the returning employee will receive his or her normal advance on the pay scale; and that the employee will return to a similar position.
During a sabbatical, an employee would receive half of his or her annual salary for a full year’s leave and a fourth of his or her salary for a half year. Sabbatical applications will have to be submitted by the preceding Jan. 1 for consideration by the board with a recommendation from the superintendent.
Preferential treatment will be given to those applicants who had not been granted a previous sabbatical. Approval of any application will be contingent on the board’s ability to locate a suitable replacement for the applicant.
The number of employees granted sabbaticals each year will depend on the budgeted money for professional improvement from year to year.
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