Current through Register Vol. 51, No. 3, September 1, 2024
NECESSITY, FUNCTION, AND CONFORMITY:
KRS
156.160 requires the Kentucky Board of
Education to promulgate administrative regulations establishing standards which
school districts shall meet in student, program, service, and operational
performance, including regulations for the protection of the physical welfare
and safety of public school children, as well as the pay of teachers during
absence because of sickness or quarantine.
KRS
156.070 provides the Kentucky Board of
Education with the management and control of the common schools and all
programs operated in those schools.
KRS
160.291 authorizes fringe benefit payments by
local boards of education which are deemed to be for services rendered for the
benefit of the common schools. This administrative regulation establishes paid
quarantine leave to employees in response to the COVID-19 emergency. This
emergency regulation is necessary to address the imminent threat to public
health, safety, and welfare; and to protect human health; while safely and
efficiently operating public schools during the 2021-22 school year in light of
the COVID-19 public health emergency.
Section
1. COVID-19 Quarantine Leave.
(1)
During the 2021-22 school year, each district board of education shall provide
each eligible person employed as a full or part-time employee in the public
schools paid leave during the period the employee is placed in quarantine due
to exposure to COVID-19. Exposure to COVID-19 shall include exposure to any
variant of COVID-19. This leave shall be in addition to any other leave
provided by statute or board policy.
(2) In order to be eligible for leave under
this section, the employee shall:
(a) Be
placed in quarantine due to COVID-19 exposure by a licensed treating physician,
physician's assistant, or advanced practice registered nurse, a public health
department, the Department for Public Health, or the school district for which
the employee works; and
(b) Have
received either two (2) doses of the Pfizer or Moderna COVID-19 vaccine or a
single dose of Johnson & Johnson's Janssen vaccine prior to the quarantine
period, present a statement from a treating medical professional that a
disability prevents the employee from taking the COVID-19 vaccine, or is
prevented from taking the COVID-19 vaccination based on sincerely held
religious belief.
(3) If
a school district places an employee on quarantine due to exposure to COVID-19,
then the district shall provide the employee with written documentation
supporting the quarantine determination.
(4) A school district may require the
employee to provide written documentation from the entity placing the employee
in quarantine due to COVID-19 exposure.
(5) Quarantine leave shall not be used if the
employee has an active COVID-19 infection.
(6) A school district, at its discretion, may
determine quarantine leave is unnecessary when an employee can fulfill his or
her job duties remotely during the quarantine period.
(7) In order to shorten the quarantine
period, a school district may require an employee on quarantine leave to
undergo a COVID-19 test at district expense and provide the results to the
district. Such test shall occur no sooner than the earliest date recommended by
Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Department for Public Health quarantine
guidelines. A district may require an employee testing negative for COVID-19 to
return to work in accordance with CDC and Department for Public Health
quarantine guidelines.
(8) Leave
granted pursuant to this section shall not accumulate or carry over beyond the
2021-2022 school year and shall not be transferrable to any other
classification of paid leave established by
KRS
161.155,
KRS
161.154, or local school district policy.
This is to certify that the chief state school officer has
reviewed and recommended this administrative regulation prior to its adoption
by the Kentucky Board of Education, as required by
KRS
156.070(5).
The
amended version of this section by
48
Ky.R. 2374; eff. 3/7/2022 is not yet
available.
