Pine Bluff is one of 27 school districts the Arkansas Department of Education acknowledged for offering a maternity leave program through the LEARNS Act.
Twenty-three districts have participated in the cost-sharing program since the start of the 2023-24 school year. The voluntary program allows each district to partner with the ADE’s Division of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) to share the cost of filling a position when a staff member is on paid maternity leave for up to 12 weeks, according to a news release from the department. The PBSD offers maternity and paternity leave.
Each participating district determines the number of weeks for its policy and whether employees receive full or partial compensation from the district during that time, according to the Education Department. The PBSD policy calls for up to eight consecutive weeks of maternal leave for the person who “physically births” a biological child and four weeks of paternal leave for the person “who is the legal guardian or parent of a child but did not physically give birth to the child.”
The policy, which the PBSD board approved in March, also calls for up to eight consecutive weeks of leave for the adoptive primary parent of a newborn to 6-week-old child (up to four weeks for the adoptive secondary maternal parent) and up to four weeks for the adoptive primary and secondary parents of a child 6 weeks old or older. “Adoptive primary parent” is one who is the legal guardian of a child and the primary caregiver and “adoptive secondary parent” is one who is the legal guardian of a child but not the primary caregiver, according to the policy.
“Women should not be forced to decide between choosing to be a mother and choosing to be a professional,” Barbaree told the Education Department.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
The PBSD Personnel Policy Committee recommended the policy to the district board. Barbaree clarified the district-state partnership does not cover any portion of the cost of providing a substitute staffer for one on paternity leave.
The other school districts that participated in the partnership program during last school year include Bay, Beebe, Clinton, Earle, Fordyce, Greenbrier, Helena-West Helena, Harrisburg, Hope, Jonesboro, Kirby, Lawrence County, Lee County, Magnolia, Marvell-Elaine, Mount Ida, Nettleton, Rivercrest, Rose Bud, Searcy, Spring Hill and Two Rivers. Each of these districts except Bay, Fordyce and Two Rivers have submitted cost-sharing agreements to DESE for this school year, along with Genoa Central, Izard County, Jacksonville North Pulaski, Little Rock, Manila, Strong-Huttig and the Arkansas Military and First Responders Academy.
Watson Chapel Superintendent Keith McGee, who was superintendent at Helena-West Helena last school year, said he’d love to explore the possibility of his new school district taking part in the program. McGee said he didn’t learn until after the application deadline passed Watson Chapel did not have such a policy in place.
“That’s a way to honor our teachers,” McGee said.