Reply To: 03/27/25 Meeting

[Antonia Moore]

Joint Proposal Discussion:

Megan Lacroix speaking about Paid Parental Leave
ABA Classroom teacher, 8 years teaching, currently at Sapelli Elementary
Current policy lets women have 8 weeks (3 years of sick time collected) of sick time for a standard birth, 12 weeks (5 years of sick time collected) for a non-standard birth, and will have to eventually make a choice of coming in sick, each child will have less time with her and her husband
Wanting to share so people listening is if they wanted to make sure
Current language is parent from household, but within same district creates issues with paternity leave, can never take sick days to bring baby to appointments or stay with baby, have to extend to a year unpaid in order to see if it makes sense in the same district
Step raises being prevented wouldn’t make financial sense to work in this district, just barely not qualifying for food stamps: ridiculous 2 Master’s professionals unable to afford groceries
Provided examples of East Longmeadow, Springfield, etc. in the state, Somerville, Quincy, Canton
Cost of teacher turnover can be as much as $300,000 for district to train, attain, and recruit new teachers filling vacant positions
There is a national shortage of specialized, Special Ed-licensed educators, and it’s expensive for the district to pay for compensatory services to provide missed IEP service minutes, paying more experienced, retired teachers if they can’t fill the position
Paid Parental Leave would prevent attrition, and make Agawam a more desirable place to work