The District will reimburse retirees $5.00 per day unused sick leave, to a maximum of 105 days, if the retiree meets the following criteria:
1. Service time: Those full-time employees who have a minimum of 15 years of continuous service to the District are eligible for application. No more than one year of long-term disability can be part of the 15 years continuous service, and no one receiving sick leave or long-term disability payments is eligible until such payments have been phased out by use of same.
A “full-time” employee in the support positions must have been employed at least 30 hours per week for 9 months of the school year or more. Half-time employees that are in reality considered to be “full-time half-time” shall be eligible for a retirement stipend commensurate with the amount of time their position entails, such as half-time, 3/4 time, etc.
If there are “combination” work years, the Superintendent shall compute the “pro-rata” of the employee’s final 15 years of District service. Support employees must have worked 180 days in order to be credited with a “year”. The “work year” shall be from July 1st through the following June 30th.
Where there are any differences of computation, the Board shall determine the employee’s District “experience”. If there is any further reorganization of the school district, those employees coming into the District via that route shall be given the same privileges and experience computations as the above.
2. The “age” of an employee shall be that age attained during the current work year of July 1 through June 30. Any employee who attains 55 years of age during the summer prior to the start of a new school year shall be eligible for early retirement provided all other eligibility requirements have been met.
3. Support staff must submit a written request for early retirement to the Superintendent prior to March 1st of that year. It shall be the prerogative of the Board to determine whether each request is granted and upon what date it is to become effective.
4. The early retirement program is not available to any employee who is under consideration of contract termination or who has been discharged, with the Board the final determiner of that status.
5. Any decision made by the Superintendent may be appealed to the Board whose decision shall be final and is considered non-grievable in any way as a part of District policy.
6. The Board shall be the determiner of the time and date for all employees to best accommodate the District’s mission, if the request is for a time other than the end of their contract or fiscal year.
7. Compensation will be included in the last paycheck upon retirement termination of employment.