Tuition Discount
Tuition discounts are offered based upon the employee’s contracted hours per week. The discounts offered are as follows:
- Full-Time Employees (30 hours or more per week) – 45% Discount
- Less than 30 hours and greater than/equal to 15 hours per week – 24% Discount
- Less than 15 hours per week – 10% Discount
When onboarding or offboarding an employee mid-year, the employee tuition discount is based on the percentage of employment contract completed.
Additional Employee Tuition Assistance Fund
The Additional Employee Tuition Assistance Fund was created to supplement the employee tuition discount in an effort to make the transition of affording GRACE for their children a gradual financial process. The opportunity for additional tuition assistance is available to all full time employees with children in grades K‐2.
Eligibility Requirements
Applicants must meet the following criteria:
- Must be a current Full Time GRACE Employee (40 hours/week)
- Available for students in grades K‐2
- Must apply through the Blackbaud Grant & Aid system, third party that calculates need
Award Information
- All awards given are contingent on the availability of Funding and are based on need
- In addition to the GRACE Employee Tuition Discount, additional assistance can be provided for up to a total of 70% off Tuition
- Applicant must apply each year for the additional funds via Blackbaud Grant & Aid
- Awards for the applicants will be determined by the GRACE Tuition Assistance Committee
- Awards should be kept confidential
Funding
The source of funds for the Additional Employee Tuition Assistance Fund will be donations and will not be funded from GRACE’s operating budget.
Faculty Course Reimbursement
GRACE provides professional development opportunities for all faculty on an annual basis that are eligible for biblical and educational CEU credit. For ACSI certification renewal requirements, some faculty are required to complete an education course at the college level at cost to the employee (for example, reading in the content area). GRACE will reimburse the employee up to $150 for the cost to complete a college level course based on the following criteria: the course must meet ACSI certification renewal requirements and the administration must approve course enrollment if a request for reimbursement will be submitted; the course must be paid for in full by the employee and verification of course completion submitted in order to be eligible to submit a request for reimbursement; only one college level course will be reimbursed during a certification period.
401(k) Retirement Savings Plan
A 401(k) Retirement Savings Plan is available for employee contributions as of the date of hire. GRACE Chrisitan School will match 100% for the first 2% of employee contributions.
Time Off Policies
Paid Time Off (PTO)
- All employees are eligible, immediately upon hire, for PTO hours equaling 1.6 times their contracted hours per week. This is the equivalent of 8 days of PTO.
- 40 hours per week = 64 hours PTO
- 30 hours per week = 48 hours PTO
- PTO hours can be used for personal matters, sick time, and vacation time.
- PTO must be used in a minimum of 2 hour increments for anyone requiring a substitute. Information regarding requesting a substitute may be found here.
- PTO hours will not carry over to the next school year and cannot be shared.
- Upon completion of their employment contract, Full-Time employees (40 hours/week) will be paid ½ of their PTO balance as of 5/31 up to 24 hours. (for example if PTO balance at 5/31 is 40 hours, employees would be paid for 20 hours.)
- PTO requests should be managed throughout the year such that an employee is not in a position of requesting numerous days off in April and May. Any requests for planned absences in May should be submitted for approval by April 1st.
- All other PTO requests must be submitted to the respective administrator three days in advance except in the case of illness or an emergency.
- PTO should not be taken on in-service days, work days, major event days, or the day preceding or following a holiday break.
- PTO should be used for staff who are participating in field trips in a parental/chaperoning role and are not the actual teachers involved in the planning and organizing or a field trip. However, it should be noted that the employee still represents GRACE Christian School in all aspects on a field trip.
Leave without Pay (LWOP)
- LWOP should not be taken except for unforeseen emergency situations
- Faculty and Staff should schedule their PTO during the year to not be put in an LWOP situation.
- LWOP needs to be approved with the appropriate supervisor prior to taking.
- Taking more than what is provided in this policy in one benefit year, absent extenuating circumstances, or repeated absences beyond the limits of this policy may be considered excessive absenteeism and may subject the employee to disciplinary action, up to and including termination.
Vacation
- Vacation applies to 12 month employees only.
- Year round employees are eligible for vacation days equaling 2 times their contracted hours per week. This is the equivalent of 2 weeks of vacation.
- Vacation leave requests should be submitted no less than two weeks prior to the expected absence.
- Unused vacation hours as of May 31st may carry over up to ½ of annual accrual.
- Upon termination, employees with unused vacation time will be paid out for the unused vacation time pro-rated by the percentage of contract completion at the time of termination.
- As a common courtesy, vacations should not be scheduled during particularly busy times of the year such as; start of school or end of school year.
Bereavement Days
- Three bereavement days are allowed for the death of an immediate family member.
- Immediate family members include: spouses, parents, brothers, sisters, children, grandchildren, grandparents, and parents-in-law.
- Part-time employees are eligible for bereavement pay in proportion to the number of hours they are normally scheduled to work.
Jury Duty
- If an employee of GRACE Christian School is called to serve on jury duty, it is his/her civic duty. The employee will be paid for all days attending jury duty as if the employee were at work during normal hours. Proof of duty should be provided to the Human Resources Director. If the service exceeds five days, special arrangements must be made with the Human Resources Director.
Maternity, Paternity or Adoption Leave
A full-time GRACE Christian School employee can take a maternity, paternity or adoption leave of up to 12 weeks if the employee is unable to perform his or her job on account of pregnancy, childbirth, or a related medical condition or upon the adoption of a child. In the case of childbirth, the leave can begin before or after delivery.
The 12-week maternity, paternity, or adoption leave consists of the following:
- GRACE paid maternity, paternity or adoption leave is available for the first week of this leave based on the standard hours worked per week by the employee. This leave is available only after one year of employment with GRACE Christian School.
- After the first week of GRACE paid leave (if applicable), the employee must use PTO and/or vacation leave. If the employee does not have PTO and/or vacation leave available, this leave is unpaid.
- Your family/medical leave allowance (FMLA) will run concurrently with maternity, paternity, or adoption leave.
Short-Term Leave Due to Pregnancy:
- There is a period of actual disability, which normally begins upon the birth of the baby. This is covered by the short-term disability program in the case of full-time employees with 180 days or more of service. Short-term disability begins on the 15th day of the disability and it is the responsibility of the employee to file a claim for this to be effective.
- Once you are no longer disabled based on the short-term leave policy, the remainder of the maternity leave is treated as unpaid leave.
Pregnant employees should contact the Human Resources Director as early in their pregnancy as possible for detailed information and for planning purposes.
Holidays
Holidays and times when the school is closed may be found on the 2023 – 2024 Employee Calendar found in the ALL school HUB. Any PTO or Vacation time used on a work day during which students are not in school should be approved at least two weeks in advance by the employee’s supervisor. In addition, if you are on short-term disability or other leave during a school holiday, you are not paid for the holiday.
Employee Referral Program Procedures
GRACE Christian School is always looking for good people, and you can help. Research has
shown, and our own experience supports, that new hires who come into a school through
employee referrals are excellent contributors, stay with the school longer, and are more cost-
effective recruits.
That’s where you come in! If you know someone who would be a good addition to GRACE, you
may be awarded a referral bonus of $100 (less taxes) if you refer a candidate and he or she is
hired.
Employees must refer candidates to Human Resources through the employee referral program
link on GRACE’s ALL School Hub or by completing the candidate referral form available on the
Google Drive.
Program Rules
- All GRACE employees, except those on the Executive Leadership Team, in Human
Resources, and managers with hiring authority over the referred candidates, are eligible
for the referral bonus. - The referral date cannot be earlier than the date the job opening is posted. The hiring of
a referred employee must occur within 180 days (six months) of the initial referral date. - The referral must represent the candidate's first contact with GRACE Christian School.
- To be eligible for an award, an employee must submit a referral to Human Resources
with a candidate referral form and a resume. - The referring employee must agree to have his or her name used when the company
contacts the candidate. - The first employee to refer a candidate will be the only referring employee eligible for
payment. - Only candidates who meet the essential qualifications for the position will be considered.
- All candidates will be evaluated for employment consistent with the school’s policies and
procedures. - All information regarding the hiring decision will remain strictly confidential.
- Any disputes or interpretations of this employee referral program will be handled through
Human Resources. - All referral bonus payments will be paid within 30 days after the referred employee
completes 6 months of employment at GRACE Christian School.
