The new parental leave policy was drafted by the Faculty Committee (a standing committee that addresses issues relating to faculty life) and members of the administration during the 2015-2016 school year and finalized in July 2016. It ensures that faculty have ample time to care for their newborns before returning to their duties at Choate.
There are now four types of parental leave: birth mother leave, which lasts six to eight weeks depending on the time needed for medical recovery; non-birth parent leave, for faculty members whose partner is the birth parent of a new child, which lasts for one week; additional parent leave, which allows either parent to take another six weeks off; and adoption leave, which lasts for twelve weeks thus ensuring adoptive parents receive equal time with their children as non-adoptive parents.
Conversations about the parental leave policy have been ongoing for more than two years. Mr. Oliver Morris, Chair of the Faculty Committee during the 2015-2016 school year, stated, “Family leave has always been a topic of conversation, but it became a lot more public two years ago when we had a rise in faculty members on leave.”
Mr. Morris described several different channels through which the Faculty Committee was made aware of concerns about the parental leave policy. He said, “Faculty members are encouraged to speak to the Committee to raise any issues they want us to discuss during our meetings. After a couple people requested we talk about leave, the Committee opened up a meeting and said, ‘If you want to talk to us about family leave, please do.’ We had a number of faculty members from outside the Committee come to talk about change.”
From this meeting, the Faculty Committee drafted their first vision of a reformed parental leave policy. After planning a new system that would expand paid leave to ten weeks, they approached the school administration to discuss implementation.
Ms. Katie Levesque, Dean of Faculty and a key administrator in the reform process, elaborated on the ethos of the discussion between faculty and the administration. She explained, “There was a new awareness that not all parenting couples are father and mother, so we wanted our language and our policies to be more gender-expansive. We also wanted to support colleagues in a variety of ways that worked for them and their families in welcoming children to their lives.”
Through these discussions, the administration expanded upon the policy suggested by the Faculty Committee. Rather than simply implementing the request of the faculty — to expand the policy to ten weeks of paid leave — the policy approved by the administration allows for a minimum of 12 weeks of paid leave for faculty parents. Instead of referring to child-related leave as “maternity leave,” a term that does not encompass adoptions and alternative families, the new policy uses the language “parental leave.”
Mr. Andrew Arcand, English teacher; former member of the Faculty Committee; and parent of Theo Arcand, who is 16 months old, was present for many conversations concerning parental leave in its early stages. Although Mr. Arcand was ultimately unable to benefit from the expanded parental leave — his son, Theo, was born before the changes were implemented — he called it a positive change for all Choate families. Mr. Arcand said, “I think the new policy is much needed, and it’ll allow for families to get their heads around some of the changes that occur when they become a parent.”
English teacher Dr. Stephen Siperstein was one of the first faculty members to experience the redefined parental leave system. Granted six weeks of paid leave after the birth of his son, Nathaniel, Dr. Siperstein was able to focus completely on family. He said, “Being on leave was amazing. I was able to be at the birth without feeling like I had to be back at work the next week.”
Dr. Siperstein continued, “Taking that time off was important for my son and I to emotionally bond as a family. I wish more companies in the United States would adopt policies like this.”
Through cooperation between administrators and faculty, the new parental leave program has created a more inclusive system for Choate families. Describing the outcome of the policy, Mr. Morris stated, “The faculty leave program recognizes that our Choate family is more than just students, staff, and faculty. We’re all part of this larger community, and I think that’s incredibly important for us to acknowledge in our policies.”
