• Illness of employee, illness or death of a member of the employee's immediate family, or a family emergency.

• Absence due to death of a personal friend or a relative not covered under the immediate family policy.

• Absence due to the attending of legal affairs, such as to settle estates and probate wills. This does not cover affairs pertaining to any outside personal interest.

The number of days of local leave that may be accumulated by an employee is 70 days.

Absences for personal or family illnesses in excess of the specific number of days established by local policy will need certification of a health care provider.

Old State Sick Leave: This leave consists of the unused, accumulated state leave earned by employees prior to September 1, 1995. This leave is considered "Nondiscretionary State Leave" and may be used for the following reasons:

• personal illness, illness or death of a member of the employee's immediate family, or a family emergency.

Employees may not earn Old State Sick Leave after September 1, 1995; therefore, the number of days an employee has accumulated as of that date is the total number of days the employee may have of this leave type.

Absences for personal or family illnesses in excess of the specific number of days established by local policy will need certification of a health care provider.

New State Personal Leave: This leave consists of the 5 State Leave days that are incremented to the employee's payroll record September 1st of each school year. (It is earned at the rate established by local policy.) This leave is considered "Discretionary State Leave" and may be used at the individual employee's discretion, for which it is possible to set a schedule in advance. Except for extenuating circumstances as determined by the Superintendent, discretionary leave shall not be allowed in the following circumstances:

• the day before a school holiday;
• the day after a school holiday;
• days scheduled for end-of-six weeks, end-of-semester and end-of-year exams;
• days scheduled for district norm-referenced tests of for State TAAS tests; and
• staff development or inservice days.

A notice of request for discretionary personal leave shall be submitted to the principal, supervisor or designee at least 3 full workdays in advance of the anticipated absence. This leave shall be granted on a first-come, first-served basis, with a maximum of 10% of campus employees in each category permitted to be absent at the same time for discretionary leave, provided approved substitutes are available. Use of discretionary personal leave shall be considered granted unless the principal, supervisor or designee notifies the employee to the contrary within 24 hours of the time the requested leave would begin.

Discretionary personal leave may not be taken for more than 2 consecutive days except in extenuating circumstances as determined by the Superintendent.

State personal leave days are accumulated at the rate of a maximum of 5 days annually, and there is no limit on the number of days which may be accrued.

Other important information to remember:

• District local personal leave is discontinued in favor of state personal leave.
• The term "immediate family" includes the following:

1. husband or wife
2. son, son-in-law, stepson
3. daughter, daughter-in-law, stepdaughter
4. father, father-in-law, stepfather
5. mother, mother-in-law, stepmother
6. brother, brother-in-law, stepbrother
7. sister, sister-in-law, stepsister
8. grandparents
9. grandchildren
10. Any person who may be residing in the covered employee's household at the time of illness or death

• The term "family emergency" shall be limited to natural disasters and life-threatening situations involving the covered employee or a member of the employee's immediate family.
• After all local sick leave and old state sick leave has been exhausted, absences due to illness of the employee, illness or death of a member of the employee's immediate family, or family emergency shall be charged to the New State Personal Leave.