Q & A

One paraprofessional left Jessie Thackrey to accept a promotional position. There is typically turn over between each school year. Many times paras leave to pursue other careers or for family reasons. This is across the board for all school levels. Yes, there tends to have more turnover with part-time positions.

According to Building Services Director, Seve Padilla, FCCPS needs an additional 3.0 FTE custodians to address increased square footage as well as heavier facility use. His initial ask was for 1 custodian for each Mt. Daniel, TJ, and GM; after further discussion and analysis, if we were to add only a 1.0 FTE custodian, that time would probably be split between TJ and JTP where the greatest needs currently exist.

A 1.0 FTE Clerical Assistant for JTP has also been requested by Liz Germer. This position would assist the Supervisor, distribute meals, serve as a health room aide, and would be responsible for minor clean ups during the day.

There truly is no way to provide an accurate answer to this question. There are too many “moving parts” and variables in terms of individual salary changes and benefits elected by individual employees.

For example, if an employee with health insurance got married or added a child over the summer and put their new spouse/child on their insurance plan, the increased premium cost may have reduced their take-home pay over the previous year but was attributable to their personal decision; i.e. had they kept the same plan and level of coverage they wouldn’t have experienced the take-home pay decrease. Likewise, many employees opted for benefits they did not have in the previous year or may have increased their contributions to tax-sheltered annuities.

For additional information about recent salary improvements, please refer to 5 Year History of FCCPS Salary Improvements by Employee Group

During the current year (2016-17), the School Board did provide a one-time $700 bonus payment to 15 staff members who were at the top of their respective scales for more than one year; however, this bonus is not included in FY18.

Actually classroom paraprofessionals have traditionally worked 191 days except for one year (2010-2011) when work days were reduced to 187; however, the days returned to 191 the following year. There is no solid rationale for the 191 number: 191 para days were in effect during the many years when teachers worked only 190 days and had 10 unscheduled days, meaning that paras were expected to report to work when teachers were not.

Currently, paras spend 182 days in the classroom with students and 9 days with teachers in professional activities (total = 191). With next year’s changes to the School Calendar, paras will now spend 180 days with students and will still have the 9 professional days with teachers; accordingly, the number of para contact days will drop from 191 to 189.

We have look into do this a number of times, but we not able to "ride" another organization's insurance policy, nor are other organizations able to ride ours. Businesses are rated separately for insurance/risk purposes.

Also recent changes to the Virginia Public Procurement Act now significantly limit our ability to piggyback on other jurisdictions' contracts.

Maternity leave falls under Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA). FMLA is a labor law requiring employers to provide employees unpaid leave for a serious health condition, to care for a sick family member, or to care for a newborn or adopted child.

Employees may take up to 12 weeks (up to 60 work days). FCCPS allows employees who have accrued leave to remain in a paid status for the amount of time that they have leave.

If an employee does not have any accrued leave they may take the time off but it will be unpaid.

Yes. Last year's reductions from the Board's budget request are now reflected among a number of the individual requests for FY18. The "True Loss" to FCCPS from the $912,600 totals $694,200 and is broken out as follows:

• Staff Pay - $194,600

• New Staff - $299,800

• Materials/Supplies - $92,500

• Professional Development - $27,600

• Services - $5,000

• Equipment/Computers - $28,700

• Contingency - $46,000

The remaining $218,400 were reductions/saving that did not impact our programs (e.g. leasing buses rather than purchasing them, reductions for retiree health benefits, annual donation to the FCEF, etc.