Frisco ISD signs off on district staff ice storm pay

Frisco ISD staff will receive their regular pay for the days the district lost to an ice storm that swept over Texas in early February.

The board of trustees at a Feb. 13 meeting approved the parameters for paying FISD employees the wages they would have received if schools were open and functioning normally.

Paying employees for unplanned school closures is a normal procedure but requires a formal request and approval by the board of trustees, according to district staff.

“Board policy DEA Local requires [the board] to adopt a resolution after the fact in order to continue wage payments for those people during the closure and not require them to use any personal days for the time off that they took,” Chief Finance and Strategy Officer Kimberly Smith said.

FISD board policy also mandates employees be paid extra if they worked on campus despite an emergency declaration closure, according to meeting documents. Denton County, where a portion of FISD is located, was one of seven counties across Texas listed in a Feb. 4 disaster declaration from Gov. Greg Abbott.

“That allows us to pay anyone who came on-site to an FISD workplace during the closure from winter weather, it allows us to pay them time and a half,” Smith said.

The district sent out a Jan. 30 announcement it would close all campuses through Feb. 3, citing hazardous roads and below-freezing temperatures. Students and teachers are expected to make up the lost time by using its scheduled April 28 bad weather day, according to the district.