Ann Arbor Public Schools teachers deserve to be able to take paid time off for religious holidays without using their sick days.

Staff currently need to use sick days in order to observe non-Christian religious holidays. This applies to all non-Christian staff, since the major Christian holidays are already days off. Every year, when teachers are absent for important holidays such as Yom Kippur or Eid, those days are deducted from their sick bank, even though these teachers are not sick and observing a holiday is not an illness.

In keeping with the theme of dignity this year, we ask that the district collaborate with our AAEA leaders during financial bargaining to come up with an inclusive policy that allows anyone to take paid time for religious holidays without deducting days from their sick bank. 

Options for such a policy could include:

1) A policy that all staff are allowed two floating religious days to take when needed. These function like sick days but are for religious observance only.

2) A policy that allow staff to use days from the common sick bank for their religious holiday observations, rather than having to pull from their individual sick banks.

Please support all staff in having access to paid time away for religious holiday observances without having to use paid sick time.