“COVID 19” Days Update
JFT addressed the Jefferson Parish School Board at the December meeting, urging them to be proactive in extending The Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA), which expired on December 31, 2020. The FFCRA provided paid sick leave and expanded family and medical leave. Following the meeting, JFT engaged in several conversations with the district and the results are as follows:
Any employee with unused FFCRA benefits will be granted his/her unused benefit retroactively from January 4, 2021 through June 30, 2021.
Effective January 4, 2021, through June 30, 2021, employees impacted by quarantines may qualify for an additional district benefit if they have exhausted all FFCRA leave and regular sick leave. This additional district benefit applies to the following:
- Any employee who is quarantined due to an exposure “while at work” and is unable to work from home will be granted a maximum of 10 days of excused sick leave at 100% of the employee’s daily rate of pay by the District.
- Any employee who is caring for a quarantined child* and is unable to work from home will be granted a maximum of 10 days of excused sick leave at 2/3 of the employee’s daily rate of pay. The employee must contact the Human Resources Leaves Department in writing and submit a copy of the quarantine notice from the child’s school.
*Please note, this does not apply to employees caring for a child whose school or place of care was closed due to COVID-19. Employees impacted by school closures may use any remaining FMLA benefits at 2/3 of the employee’s daily rate of pay.
Any employee who is quarantined is no longer required to contact the Human Resources Leaves Department as the information is in the COVID-19 Tracker.
Any employee who is required to quarantine or isolate and is coded in the COVID-19 Tracker as “Work from Home” will be excused and will NOT be charged sick time. The immediate supervisor of the employee will determine, on a case by case basis, whether an employee is eligible to receive a “Work from Home” status.
For questions pertaining to employee leave and benefits, please email your human resources contact:
- Toni.Feirn@jpschools.org (Last names A-K)
- Lahkyn.Billiot-Fish@jpschools.org (Last Names L-Z)
JFT Elections April 2021 
The Nominations and Elections Committee is announcing that elections for JFT Officers and Executive Council members will be held in April of this year.
JFT Election Procedure and Timeline
January 28: Blank Petitions and Nominations and Election Procedure Packets are available at the JFT Office, 2540 Severn, Suite 301, Metairie, LA 70001.
Persons wishing to run for office can pick up these packets during office hours anytime before March 14th. The office is open Monday-Friday from 8:30 A.M. until 4:30 P.M., but will be closed the week of Mardi Gras. Completed petitions may be submitted to Rittenberg, Samuel, & Phillips at any time prior to the deadline.
March 15: Deadline for submission of nomination petitions by 5:00 p.m. to Rittenberg, Samuel, & Phillips, LLC, c/o JFT Election Committee, 1539 Jackson Avenue, Suite 115, New Orleans, LA 70130.
March 18: General Membership Meeting for Nominations
5:30 p.m.
Zoom
March 24: SAMPLE ballots will be mailed to members in good standing as of January 1, 2021.
Week of April 5: Preparation of Official Ballots.
April 12: BALLOTS will be mailed out to members in good standing as of January 1, 2021.
April 29: By close of business, ballots MUST be received.
April 30: Ballots will be opened and counted. Only ballots received by close of business on the previous day will be counted.
Week of May 3: Results of the election will be distributed
Wellness Wednesdays 
It is time to reclaim our Wednesdays for our minds and our bodies. And so, back by popular demand, AFT is restarting Share My Lesson’s free Wellness Wednesday Webinar series. Join us as we collectively work out our minds and bodies.
REGISTER HERE for all new health and wellness sessions now available on demand.
Louisiana Federation of Teachers Conference
LFT Virtual Winter Conference 2021
Saturday, March 13, 2021, 9:15 a.m.
All JFT members are invited to attend
There is no registration fee.
Email lmarino@jft.org to register.
BESE & The Legislature
This month, the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education held their regular meeting. You can watch the meeting in it's entirety on YouTube. Of particular note, the Louisiana Department of Education presented the results of series of focus groups and surveys meant to help them reflect on the roll out of the 2020-2021 Strong Start Plan and better understand the needs of Louisiana's leaders, educators, students and families. Unfortunately, only 43 teachers and 0 support employees participated in this process. We want to know what you think. Please take this survey, which was designed by the LDOE for Districts, so that we can see if your experiences align with what the School Districts have reported.
The Louisiana Legislature will convene in April, but advisory committees are already considering revenue projections and potential changes to the Minimum Foundation Program. To sign up for text alerts about important updates as they unfold, text LFT to 69238.
JFT T-Shirts
Show your solidarity by ordering your JFT fleur di Lis t-shirt!
S-XL $10
XXL-XXXL $12
Email lmarino@jft.org to order.
Continue to use the JFT Reporting Form to document the concerns at your school.
** JFT REPORTING FORM **
Virtual Committee Meetings
PSRP Committee
The next meeting of the PSRP Committee will be February 4, 2021 at 5PM on Zoom
Community Outreach Committee
The next meeting of the Community Outreach Committee will be February 10, 2021 at 5PM on Zoom.
Please email info@jft.org to register for either or both of these upcoming committee meetings.
Solidarity Day
The next JP School Board Meeting will be held on February 3rd. As always, we ask that you wear your JFT blue on this day to show your support and solidarity.
If you can, please join us at the in-person School Board meeting on February 3, 2021 at 501 Manhattan Blvd. at 6PM. Wear your blue!