Berkeley Co. School Board to discuss ‘head start’ program

BERKELEY COUNTY, S.C. (WCSC) - The Berkeley County School Board of Education is reviewing policies for second reading at Monday night’s meeting to comply with the general assembly’s recent education decisions.

The Finance and Human Resources Committee meeting will be going over the following policies: Policy GBCA - Timekeeping, Overtime & Rest Periods, Policy GCCAC - Family and Medical Leave Act and Policy GCCAF - Paid Parental Leave.

The Timekeeping, Overtime & Rest Periods discusses compensating non-exempt employees for all time worked. The policy says non-exempt employees are strictly prohibited from performing any “off-the-clock” work, such as checking emails or completing paperwork.

This policy also allows non-exempt employees paid time off for each hour of overtime worked. In this new reading, it has been revised for non-exempt employees to accrue up to 60 hours of overtime instead of the previous 40 hours. All the accrued time must be taken prior to the end of the fiscal year.

The Family and Medical Leave Act policy involves those employed for at least 12 months and has at least worked 1,250 hours before they can request a leave of absence. The only revision in this policy states that before someone returns to work after their leave is that the employee’s health provider must certify they are able to resume work.

The Paid Parental Leave policy will allow an employee to be paid during the time they give birth, foster or adopt a child. There are no visible revisions to the current policy.

The Academics and Innovation Committee Meeting will also hold a presentation at Monday’s board meeting about the federally funded program called “Head Start” that’s goal is to provide comprehensive services to families living below the federal poverty income. According to board member Yvonne Bradley, the board must review Head Start every year to make sure they’re up to date on its progress.

In Monday’s presentation, some of the main challenges that will be discussed are the decline of enrollment over the last three years, transportation in rural areas, concerns and classroom space.

Part of the presentation states that Head Start is expected to achieve 97% enrollment by July 10, 2024, after fully implementing the new requirements by the Office of Head Start. Some of these implementations include starting a committee comprised of Head Start staff and stakeholders to come up with a new enrollment plan.

The Berkeley County School Board meeting will be at district headquarters at 107 East Main Street in Moncks Corner at 5:30 p.m. on Monday.

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