USD 320 to consider employee pay policy for excessive snow days

WAMEGO — For the better part of the new year, area schools have dealt with closings and delays due to winter weather.

So far this semester, USD 320 Wamego has plowed through close to a school week’s worth of snow days already. It’s caused a financial burden on some teachers and staff, since they aren’t paid for days missed due to the weather.

Superintendent Tim Winter says he recently was approached by some hourly employees wanting to change district policy perhaps to allow them to collect some sort of compensation for lost time. A discussion also was held during this week’s school board meeting. Winter says snow days can also result in a loss of revenue for the district.

Currently, the district does not have a snow day policy in writing for employees to be compensated. In the past, USD 320 has allowed employees to choose personal or vacation time on snow days to avoid a gap in their paychecks. If snow days are excessive, the district has sometimes allowed employees to use sick days. Winter says there are other obstacles to paying employees to not be at work.

Nearby USD 323 Rock Creek Schools has a policy that states the first three days of inclement weather, staff can use sick leave. After the first three days, employees there are allowed to dip into their personal leave or if they are 12 month employees, use vacation leave. USD 323 Superintendent Kevin Logan says he wants to work with Wamego to ensure a policy that mirrors their policy.

Logan says this semester has already been a challenging one with nearly one schedule adjustment per week since mid-January.

Winter says his district will try to come up with a policy that’s fair to all district employees.