What would six weeks paid Family and Medical Leave mean for you?

Nebraska’s 2019 Teacher of the Year Sydney Jensen will welcome her second child in May. The 9th-grade English teacher at Lincoln High School is hoping her second birth will have fewer challenges than when she and her husband welcomed their first child Gloria, "Glo," in the throes of the pandemic.

“School shut down in March 2020 and I found out I was pregnant with Glo in early May. So, my entire pregnancy was caught up in all the unknowns of the pandemic. I was 9 months pregnant and teaching in a mask,” Sydney said.

The Best Laid Plans
Sydney and her husband had always dreamed of becoming parents. She meticulously planned for years, saving up sick leave days to prepare for both the birth and care of her newborn.

“I had been saving leave at that point for eight years to be able to afford maternity leave and I had enough days saved—about 8 weeks,” she said.

As Sydney's due date approached in January 2021, her doctor recommended she take a week off to isolate as there was not yet a vaccine available and if she tested positive before her due date, her husband would not be allowed to attend the birth of their daughter.

“I had a doctor's note to take that week of isolation. The district had a policy granting five days of COVID leave and I had been very careful not to use it,” she said. “But it was determined that I wasn't eligible to take those COVID days and they were deducted from my banked leave.”

Outdated Policies
After welcoming baby Glo, Sydney, like so many women, struggled through the postpartum period. Research shows about a third of women who delivered babies during the early days of the pandemic experienced symptoms of postpartum depression. Even before the pandemic, one in eight women experienced postpartum depression. Often misunderstood as a temporary or expected emotional response to childbirth, rather than a serious medical condition that requires treatment and time to recover from, many leave policies are designed to cover only the immediate physical needs of childbirth and newborn care. 

Describing these experiences can be hard to articulate, making it difficult for many women to seek help or even acknowledge their feelings.

“It got to a point where I felt like if I went back to work, I was going to die,” she explained. “I didn't even know how to explain this to my principal. I didn’t go into details, I just explained that I needed more time. I reached out to district Human Relations, and I told them the same thing.”

Sydney ended up filing for unpaid leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act, a federal law that allows eligible employees to take unpaid, job-protected leave for specific family and medical reasons without the fear of losing their job.

The unpaid leave was a financial hardship for their family, but it was the only option Sydney could find in a system that doesn’t currently provide support for working parents.

“I had done everything to try and prepare and do it right. It felt like at every turn there were obstacles. Nothing about the way that policy was set up—in our school district and our state—was working for me. It was all working against me.”

Preparing to welcome a second child has been years in the making for Sydney and her husband.

“My daughter just turned four and, since I had her, I've barely taken a day off. All to save my leave time in planning to expand our family,” she said.

Bryant's Story
Across Nebraska, educators often feel the strain of balancing the demands of a teaching career with the need for family leave.

Millard Education Association member Bryant Bull’s experience with illness and family planning left a lasting impact. In 2011, Bryant and his wife, Sabrina, were expecting their first child when Bryant began experiencing unexpected health issues.

“I was hospitalized, I lost 40 pounds, and eventually diagnosed with Crohn's Disease,” he said. “It took months working with doctors before I was in recovery.”

Bryant ended up missing more than two months of work battling health complications. Sabrina, also a Millard teacher, took time off to care for him.

“My wife had to take a bunch of time off too. There were times when I couldn't even get out of bed,” he said.

At the time, Bryant had accumulated a generous amount of sick leave. However, it wasn’t enough to cover both his illness and his wife’s needs after the birth of their daughter later that year. This left Bryant with an impossible decision: return to work after just five days with his newborn, or take unpaid leave, which was not financially viable for the family.

“My wife was able to take a couple of weeks to spend with our daughter when she was newborn. I got five days. That's it,” he said. “It was one of the worst situations of my entire life. I had built up those sick days purposely because my wife and I knew that we wanted to have a family.

The emotional toll of missing those early weeks with his daughter, compounded by the physical challenges of his illness, left a lasting impact on Bryant.

“I've never really gotten over that. The timing was just so wrong. The policy is that there is no paternity or maternity leave, you take your sick leave. And the only other option is to take unpaid time. In a household with two teachers, there’s no way we could afford to take unpaid leave to care for our new baby. I still to this day have trouble getting over the fact that I could not spend time with my daughter in those formative first few weeks of her life. It haunts me.”

Change Needed
As teachers across Nebraska continue to navigate the demands of their classrooms, many—like Sydney and Bryant—are calling for critical policy changes that would support their family’s needs. The NSEA worked with Omaha Senator Ashlei Spivey to propose The Education Leave and Support Act (LB440), which would provide six weeks of paid FMLA for public school educators.

LB440 would allow teachers to stay in their careers without the strain of unpaid medical leave. The program would establish a 0.35% payroll tax on teachers and be matched by local districts to provide six weeks of paid leave, ensuring teachers have the support they need for personal and family health matters. The modest payroll contributions would reimburse districts for the costs of long-term substitutes.

Bryant and Sydney both agreed to share their stories to help ensure that other educators are not forced to make the same difficult choices. Sydney sees the proposed bill as a vital step in addressing the state's teacher retention challenges, with many educators considering leaving the profession because of the lack of support for family leave.

“It has so much to do with retention. There are so many great teachers who find out that they're pregnant or that they're going to be a parent and they look at leave policies and think, ‘Well, I guess that it makes more sense for me to switch careers to make more money, or to stay home,’” she said. “There are also teachers who struggle with postpartum as I did.”

LB440 could be a lifesaver for someone who, like Bryant, faces unforeseen health problems or needs to spend time with their family. Bryant's support for the bill is rooted in the understanding that such policies would benefit not only educators but their students as well.

“When teachers are supported in times of need, they can be more present and effective when they return to the classroom,” he said. “We need to take care of teachers so they can take care of their families.”

Tell Your Story
NSEA is encouraging teachers and educators to share their stories by uploading a quick video to show support for the bill. Share your personal story on what paid FMLA would mean for you and your family. Videos will be shared on social media and presented to state lawmakers to help drive change. Learn more at www.nsea.org/FMLAStory