School Board Has Questions on Proposed Grievance Policy

With teachers no longer able to call on their union for arbitration, Superintendent Blane McCann presented a new procedure Tuesday for handling grievances regarding employee termination, discipline and safety.

The School Board tabled the proposal, asking for clarification in response to concerns from teachers.

School Board President Paul Zovic said the process will follow the same basic steps as it always has — until an appeal reaches the School Board. While employees used to be able to challenge a School Board decision with arbitration, now the board gets the final say.

In his ten years on the school board, Zovic said he can only remember maybe one appeal that reached the School Board, and he can’t remember a time the School Board’s decision was challenged.

“The reality is we historically haven’t had many grievances going past the initial steps, and that’s what you want,” Zovic said.  “It’s about having open and clear expectations of responsibilities.”

According to the new proposed process, an employee must first discuss a grievance with the human resources coordinator. If it is not resolved, the employee can file a written grievance, meet with the director of personnel, and receive a written response from the administration.

Then, an employee can appeal to an impartial hearing officer, hired by the district as needed, who will hear both sides and write a response. If still unsatisfied, an employee can appeal to the School Board who has the final decision. Both the impartial hearing officer and the School Board can decide not to hear an appeal.

According to Zovic, teachers wanted clarification on what counts as a grievable action, and what role building principals will play in the process. The School Board asked McCann to clarify these points.

“It’s not that the procedure was rejected; we just sent it back for more clarification,” Zovic said. “We want it to be more explicit.”

Zovic said School Board members would like principals to work with the human resources coordinator in the first step of the process.

“The principals initiate the action," Zovic said. "They should be the first line of appeal."