Prospective 'Sick Bank' Recipient's Husband Speaks Out

Over the past week, the Teacher's Association's rejection of a sick bank arrangement offered by the West Morris Regional School District and the faculty in the school began their own fundraising campaign has been a hot topic of debate, but all of that is secondary to Joseph Moor.

Moor and his wife Susan, a nurse at West Morris Central currently battling breast cancer, are preparing for her surgery next week and while the behind the scenes talk of the sick bank is far from a priority, Joseph Moor addresses the controversy and his family's role in it in his latest blog.

The sick bank action came about this year to aid Susan Moor who lost all of her accumulated sick days in the spring of 2012 when her 8-year-old daughter died.

The sick bank was an effort by faculty members to donate unused sick time to ill colleagues in the West Morris Regional High School but the Teacher’s Association and Board of Education could not agree on terms.

Moor declined to comment on the stories on Patch, saying that he and his wife are not taxpayers in the community, but wanted to share some details after seeing misinformation in the comments section.

"Many have asked about or assumed facts that were not in the story so I would like to clear up some assumptions so you may review and revise your remarks," Moor wrote in his blog.

A few of the points Moor mentioned:

• Our family has and will continue to have health insurance coverage through her job.
• NJ Short Term Disability is not available to public school employees
• My wife did not ask for the Sick Bank, it was asked for by her colleagues. The school district had “banked” days for other employees that encountered catastrophic health events in the past with district support.
• In March of 2012 our 8-year-old-daughter was hospitalized for 70 days in the PICU of the Children’s Hospital of New York until her death on May 20, 2012. During that time both my wife and I were with her, someone was at her side 24/7 until and including her death. Susan used all unused sick, personal and NJ Family Leave during that time along with unpaid leave.
• After our daughter’s funeral and 5 days bereavement leave my wife returned to her job caring for your children on May 29, 2012 and completed the school year.

The complete update and blog can be found here.