A new memorandum of understanding now in place between the Putnam County Schools and its teachers.
The Collaborative Conferencing Committee is composed of 14 members, including both administrators and educators. Committee Chair Angie Knight said the group’s primary goal is to help strengthen the school system by addressing key issues while also advocating for the needs and interests of teachers.
“They work under the guidance of the MOU,” Knight said. “You know, that’s the main thing that we look at, we look at health insurance every year, and now it goes into workers’ comp, it goes into the death of a teacher, and we talk about the school calendar here.”
Knight said the agreement would run from July 2026 through June 2028 and include a change that would allow teachers and support staff to convert sick days to personal days after 10 years of service instead of 15 years. Knight said this change would provide flexibility, as currently they have 10 sick days and only two personal days.
“We have lots of younger teachers, and they want to be able to go on their child’s trips and events,” Knight said. “And two personal days typically would be used for, maybe they had business in town or whatever, and they would get those used up, and they might need one more day.”
Knight said changes often come directly from teachers across the county, with representatives bringing feedback from each school.
“The interest comes from their population at that school,” Knight said. “If they have a concern or an interest, they bring it to that person, and we talk about it.”
Knight said the committee has proven to be an effective way to advocate for teachers while maintaining a strong working relationship between educators and administrators. Knight said one big change the committee was able to accomplish was bereavement leave for teachers.
“Teachers didn’t have bereavement at all,” Knight said. “So that was something that we brought to the committee as an interest, and now if they have a death in their immediate family, they can have up to three bereavement days.”
The Putnam County School Board will consider the MOU during its monthly school board meeting on Thursday at the Central Office, starting at 5pm.