Leave For Teachers

(1) The term “teacher” shall mean any person employed by a local board of education in a position that requires a license issued by the State Department of Education. The term “teacher” shall not apply to a substitute teacher. (2) Sick Leave. “Sick leave” shall mean leave of absence because of illness of a teacher from natural causes or accident, quarantine, or illness or death of a member of the immediate family of a teacher, including the teacher’s wife or husband, parents, grandparents, children, grandchildren, brothers, sisters, mother-in-law, father-in-law, daughter-in-law, son-in-law, brother-in-law, and sister-in-law. Upon written request of the teacher and accompanied by a statement from her physician verifying pregnancy, any teacher who goes on maternity leave shall be allowed to use all or a portion of her accumulated sick leave for maternity leave purposes during the period of her physical disability only, as determined by a physician. (3) Personal and Professional Leave. A teacher may take two (2) days of personal and professional leave per school year in accordance with policies of the local board of education. (4) Personal Injury Leave. (a) When a school system determines that a teacher’s absence from assigned duties was required as a result of personal physical injuries caused by a physical assault or other violent criminal act committed against the teacher while on duty, the school system shall grant personal injury leave for those days of absence. (b) Each local school system shall develop policies and procedures for determining eligibility for and implementing personal injury leave consistent with these rules. The policies and procedures may include provisions such as timely notification of the DISTRICT AND SCHOOL OPERATIONS CHAPTER 0520-01-02 incident and injuries sustained, a requirement that medical attention be sought immediately, submission of a doctor’s statement verifying the nature, extent and duration of the disability, option by the school system of a third party opinion, and guidelines for a process to make periodic redeterminations of eligibility if the absence exceeds a given time frame. (c) Nothing in Rule 0520-01-02-.04(4) shall preclude a teacher at his or her option from directing that an absence which would otherwise qualify for personal injury leave under paragraph four (4) be charged to accumulated sick leave or personal leave instead of personal injury leave. (5) Substitute teachers are those persons employed to replace teachers on sick, professional, or personal leave or to fill temporary vacancies (this exists until a licensed teacher is available and employed). Substitutes are employed and paid in the following manner: (a) A person without a teacher’s license or permit may serve as a substitute for a regular teacher on approved leave for the length of time set out in T.C.A. § 49-3-312(a). (b) After the approved leave period pursuant to T.C.A. § 49-3-312(a) a person serving as the substitute must be licensed and hold the appropriate endorsement for the assignment or must be a retired teacher and have held the appropriate endorsement. (c) After the regular teacher’s accumulated leave is exhausted, the replacement teacher must be licensed and hold the appropriate endorsement for the assignment or be a retired teacher and have held the appropriate endorsement and must be paid based on the replacement teacher’s training and experience record in accordance with the state and local salary schedules. (6) The total accumulated sick leave shall mean the total number of sick leave days which have been earned but not yet used. A teacher in need of sick leave shall be allowed to use unearned sick leave up to the amount of days that such teacher may accumulate during the remainder of the current school year. (7) Each local board of education shall participate in the state leave program. Local boards of education shall provide the required local contribution from public school funds for payment of substitute teachers. Teachers shall not pay any part of the state required local contribution.