HR News Today

February 2021

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Meet our wonderful receptionists, Doreen Smith and Jillian Hillman

Doreen has been a receptionist at the district office for over 2 years. Her mornings are filled with answering calls, mail, translation services, clearances for Volunteers, Senior Experience, & Student Teachers.

Jill has been a receptionist with the district for 2 years. Her responsibilities include greeting community members and visitors, answering calls, volunteer clearances, student teachers, translation services and maintaining visitor logs and badges.

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Monthly Employee Spotlight

For February, we would like to highlight Richard Kutz (in our Transportation department).

While working for SPS Technologies for 46 years, retiring from there in 2011, Rich Kutz drove a school bus for the Centennial School District. He is still a driver with 50 years under his belt.

Much has changed in his 50 years, when he started, buses were gasoline, not diesel or propane. They had no power steering, had standard transmissions, manual doors, and no radios. When a breakdown occurred, you had to depend on the kindness of the neighbors to call the CSD bus garage.

He is a conscientious, kind, and dependable driver. His desire to come to work is driven by the fact that he enjoys the challenge of transporting students to school and home safely. It has always been his top priority.

Rich has been married for 53 years and has two wonderful children and five awesome grandchildren.

Thank you for all that you do, Rich!

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COVID-19 updates:

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is still in phase 1A and, therefore, Bucks County is still in phase 1A
"Education workers" are included in 1B. This means that if you are not 1A-eligible, you are 1B-eligible by virtue of being on the CSD team
There is still no announced date or plan from the PA Department of Health when we should expect to see Pennsylvania shift from Phase 1A to Phase 1B
Phase 1B is a large group and will again exponentially increase the number of vaccine-eligible individuals
There have been no expectations shared with school entities specific to changes to our health and safety plans following mass vaccinations. This means that our CSD Health and Safety plans remain in effect until directed otherwise by the CDC, the PA Department of Health, and/or the Bucks County Health Department. This includes expectations for isolation, quarantine, face covering, distancing, close contact tracking, hand hygiene, cleaning, etc. The PA Department of Education expect these mitigation strategies to remain in place through at least the school year's remainder

Current COVID-19 HR Process for Employees:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZHj3fpf0Oqfhe2SKiP9KR9Kz90kb-yQTmrxdwOsbqMw/edit?usp=sharing

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Delaware Valley Health Trust Center (DVHT):

DVHT offers a wide variety of services at no cost to employees with District medical coverage and their dependents.

The following links are provided for your convenience:

https://www.centennialsd.org/Page/9496

https://dvtrusts.com/dvht-health-trust-center/

DVHT monthly newsletter:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vwvJFfMBCy0wAXn9lEtO81RsWDp_OBgI/view?usp=sharing

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Health and Wellness:

Courtesy of DVHT, please see the following link for tips to Take Care of You this New Year:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ILJqWmDzSULTIgLgTEaZrgwicB6vL2Xt/view?usp=sharing

February is American Heart Month

Heart disease is the leading cause of death for both men and women. You can make lifestyle changes to lower your risk of developing heart disease. DVHT is offering a class on Wednesday, February 17th from 1pm to 2pm to learn about the various types of heart disease, signs and symptoms of heart attacks and stroke, risk factors, prevention, and common interventions.

(This class would count towards the four hours of hospital-based education required to earn the annual $100 Health Education Incentive. Live individual participation is required for the course to count toward the incentive. You can also attend local hospital-based classes on your own (proof of attendance required). Submissions are not required for classes provided through the Health Trust)

REGISTER TODAY

https://mlhs.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_bQnDnkxsT-uDSvI0dUPFBA

Webinar is open to all Health Trust enrollees. Incentive is available to subscribers and spouses enrolled in Health Trust medical plan. Presented in partnership with the Main Line Health System. Please contact the Health Trust Wellness Team at 267.803.5721 for more information.

Biometric Screening 2021

New for this year, DVHT members must sign-up at http://my.questforhealth.com/ in order to complete biometric screening for 2021 (members and covered spouses/dependents). Physician Results form for the biometric screenings are available through the above link as of February 1st.

Healthcare Bluebook

As a member of the Health Trust, you and your covered dependents have access to Healthcare Bluebook, an innovative program that enables our members to become better educated healthcare consumers. Every time you search for an eligible procedure on the Healthcare Bluebook tool and pick a Fair Price™ (green) facility for medical care, you can earn a cash reward of up to $1500.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1RmaPB8h2SdqVhq7DBXWgglkqWtQV8qlD/view?usp=sharing

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403b and Retirement:

Please be aware that Centennial School District only works with Henderson Brothers as our Third Party Administrator for the 403b deductions, and the TIAA Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association as our retirement plan provider.

Updated information:

For enrollment or questions regarding an exiting account, please see the link below to schedule a meeting directly with Kevin Bove at HB Retirement:

https://go.oncehub.com/KevinBove

A friendly reminder if you receive any email inquiries from any other parties (i.e.: Perabuilds, etc.) please disregard and assume the email is spam or a phishing email.

If you have any additional questions regarding your 403b or retirement benefits, please contact Yulia Portman at x11032.

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Employee Assistance Program (EAP):

The Employee Assistance Program (EAP) is provided through Health Advocate by the Delaware Valley Trusts and Centennial School DIstrict. It is available 24/7 to all employees, their spouses, dependent children, parents and in-laws, and gives access to confidential short term counseling (up to five sessions at no cost) and resources to help create a happier, healthier balance between work and life. The telephone number is (877) 240-6863.

Your certified counselor can address: stress, depression, anxiety; Marital relationships; Family/parenting issue; Work conflicts; Anger, grief, and loss; Drug and alcohol abuse.

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Did you know?

All School Board policies that deal with personnel are part of the 300 series. You will find these under our district home page (the school board section).

https://www.centennialsd.org/Page/7798

The 300 section dedicated to employees and explain procedures for telecommuting to managing staff attendance to tracking sick leave. For example, did you know policy no. 338 explains sabbatical leave for restoration of health or leave for professional development? This policy also includes an administrative regulation, which are detailed directions to put the policy into practice.

January Board Highlights - Retirement Incentive

On Tuesday, February 9th, the Board of School Directors approved a one-time increase to the existing retirement severance pay incentive in the CBA (page 17; F) for a payout of accrued sick days from $40 per unused sick day to $55 per unused sick day up to a maximum of $10,000, for the first twenty-five teachers with 10 or more years of service who provide notice of retirement by February 28, 2021, for the next school year. We would also offer the choice for this to be included in payroll or a contribution to a 403b account.

When someone retires, we respectfully ask that you submit a letter of retirement to Dr. Bedden, Dr. Tolx, and your building principal.

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*ATTENTION CEA MEMBERS, THE TRANSFER PERIOD BEGAN ON JANUARY 1, 2021 AND CLOSES ON FEBRUARY 28, 2021*

Members of CEA have the opportunity to request a voluntary transfer for the new school year between January 1st and February 28th. Submitted transfer requests shall be honored only for vacancies which exist as of the close of the business day on March 1st. Again, all requests submitted will be shared with your building administrator and CEA Leadership.

CEA Transfer Request/Contingency Request Form