Professional Report

INTERSTATE COMPACT ON EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES FOR

Military Children, whose goal is to facilitate the school enrollment of the children of military personnel during or after tours of duty.

MILITARY FAMILY LEAVE

5906.01 5906.02 5906.03 5906.99

An employee with at least 12 consecutive months of employment and for at least 1,250 hours in the previous year is entitled to take military family leave up to 10 days (or 80 hours, whichever is less under certain circumstances). The employee must be the parent, spouse, or a person who has or had legal custody of a member of the uniformed service who is called to active duty for a period longer than 30 days or is injured, wounded, or hospitalized while on active duty. The leave is without pay, but the school district must continue the same level of other benefits during this period of leave. (The employee is still responsible for the same employee share as enjoyed prior to the leave.) The employee must also exhaust other available leave prior to using this time. While a collective bargaining agreement can provide military family leave benefits that are greater than the benefits established in law, the law also supersedes any collective bargaining agreement provisions which provides benefits less than this law, and all collective bargaining agreements effective after July 2, 2010 must contain provisions similar to or superior to those in the law. Effective July 1, 2014, the minimum school year for school districts, STEM schools, and chartered nonpublic schools is changed from 182 days to 455 hours for students in half-day kindergarten, 910 hours for students in grades 1 through 6 or in all-day kindergarten, and 1,001 hours for students in grades 7 through 12.68 The act does not revise the minimum school year for community schools, which is 920 hours. In addition, the school week must generally be five days, but there is no longer any requirement for a minimum school month, which previously was four school weeks. Likewise, there is no longer a requirement that a school day be at least five hours long. Exceptions Effective July 1, 2014, in order to satisfy the minimum hourly requirements: 1) A school may count up to the equivalent of two school days per year when classes are dismissed for individualized parent-teacher conferences and reporting periods. (2) A school may count up to the equivalent of two school days per year when the schools are closed for teacher professional meetings. (3) For students in grades K through 6, a school may count morning and afternoon recess periods of not more than 15 minutes each. (4) Kindergarten students may be further excused for up to the equivalent of three school days, in order to acclimate to school. (5) Seniors in high school may be excused for up to the equivalent of three school days. Active duty does not include active duty for training or basic training. Violators of this law are “subject to a civil action injunctive relief or any other relief that a court finds necessary…”

MINIMUM SCHOOL YEAR

3313.48

However, unlike law effective until July 1, 2014, a school will no longer be permitted to count any "calamity" days or hours (including