EXECUTIVE LIMITATION 1.2

–

TREATMENT of FACULTY and STAFF

To: Board of Education

From: Superintendent

–

DCSD

Re: Internal Monitoring Report

–

Treatment of Faculty and Staff

I hereby present my monitoring report on our Treatment of Faculty and Staff Ex

ecutive

Limitation 1.2 in accordance with the monitoring schedule as set forth in Board policy. I

certify the information in this report is true.

Signed:

Date: October 16, 2008

Superintendent

–

DCSD

EL 1.2 Treatment

of Faculty and Staff

With respect to

treatment of faculty and staff,

the Superintendent shall

not cause or allow

conditions or procedures

that are

unsafe, disorganized, unclear

undignified.

Interpretations:

I interpret “…

treatment of faculty and staff

…”

to mean how all of our school district

employees, both full and part

time, believe their work environments are free from danger,

harm or threatening in nature.

“…not cause or allow conditions or procedures…”

refers to not creating personnel

policies th

at are discriminatory or tolerating work environments that are hostile for our

employees.

Note: The minimum control limit has been established at 80% from research completed

by our district’s Research and Assessment and our CQI department based on Univers

ity

of Washington research.

Their research

suggests

80%

favorable result on survey

questions denotes compliance. As you will see from the survey results in this monitoring

report, we are well above this industry standard. We believe these results ref

lect strongly

how our staff feels they are being treated based on the fact we collected

1271 responses

from 2007

08 district surveys

–

which equates to a

99% confidence level

Data Reported:

•

From this past Spring school surveys, 89% stated the practices a

nd procedures at

their worksite were well defined.

•

Personnel Policies, GBA Unlawful discrimination/Equal Opportunity

Employment and GBAA Nondiscrimination/Non

Harassment of Employees and

Policy AC, Nondiscrimination/Non

Harassment of Students and Staff, ar

e in

place to deal with discrimination and hostile work environments.

•

Building Administrators and supervisors have been trained this past year on how

to avoid and recognize discrimination, sexual harassment and hostile work

environment situations via a DVD

created by Human Resources

–

available on

our web

site.

•

24 discriminatory and hostile work environment complaints, both substantiated

and unsubstantiated, were investigated and resolved during this past year. With

over 6557 employees not including “subst

itutes”

in the District

, this represents an

occurrence percentage of less than 0.37%.

“…unsafe…”

is defined as physical safety and how our staff believes their work

environment is free from harm; and, how they “feel” about being exposed to a

threatening s

ituation in their work environment.

Data Reported:

From the Spring school surveys:

I feel physically safe at work.

98.18% Agreed

I am not exposed to unsafe working

conditions.

94.05% Agreed

These results exceed the 80% threshold we’ve established.

avoid “on the job accidents”, job descriptions and postings detail lifting weight

requirements necessary for all jobs. Prior to being hired, physical exams were conducted

for all of the following:

•

Bus Drivers and Transportation Educational Assistants

•

Nut

ritional Services

•

Operations and Maintenance

•

Security

•

Special Services

–

Educational Assistants III, Educational Assistants IV and

Career Assistants

100% of our employees hired in the job titles listed above passed the physical

requirements for these acci

dent prone jobs.

DCSD scored high in a recent report on employee safety. Midwest Employers Casualty

released its June/2008 22

page Benchmarking Survey, which rates their clients on the

number and severity of accidents experienced by their employees. DCSD

ranked in the

Top 10 percent for lowest frequency of accidents and the lowest severity of accidents

[Survey article can be provided upon request].

“Disorganized and unclear”

are defined as personnel policies not being presented in an

easy to understand m

anner.

Data Reported:

•

Human Resources updated over 200 job descriptions this past year based on input

from employees and their supervisors on actual work performed.

•

As a part of our “Living Contract” process, our negotiated Master Agreements are

updated m

onthly with information agreed upon between the ATU/DCFT/DCFCE

and the District. These updates are posted on our web

site on an ongoing basis.

•

Our District Policy Council met monthly and updated our Administrative Policies

on an ongoing basis. These updat

es are available for staff review on our web

site.

Two policies updated which were Staff

related were:

Superintendent File GBA: Unlawful Discrimination/Equal Opportunity

Employment

–

Approved by District Policy Council on 09/11/07

Superintendent File GBAA:

Non

Discrimination/Non

harassment of

Employees

–

Approved by District Policy Council on 09/11/07

“Undignified”

is defined as not respecting our employees and not treating them fairly.

Data Reported:

•

94.5% of our school employees indicated in the spring

2008 survey their

administrator or supervisor treated them with respect.

•

From the same survey, 89% of our employees felt the rules for them at their

site/department were fair.

•

90.4% of those surveyed stated the people they worked with cooperated as a team.

•

There is

one

pending EEOC complaint

filed during this report period which

EEOC allowed to expire before

making a

ruling.

•

There were 20 substantiated complaints filed by employees out of the 24

investigated by Human Resources. The majority of these complai

nts were from

our Classified employees and dealt with them not adhering to our District Core

Values and Behavior Expectations on how to treat on another.

Complaint Filed By/Person Investigated

Number

Student/Teacher

Student/Classified

Classified/Cl

assified

Teacher/Teacher

Classified/PT Supervisor

Classified/Admin Supervisor

Teacher/Supervisor

Classified/Certified

PT/Supervisor

•

Besides the actions taken below from the

24 investigations

, The Learning Center

completed its first S

upport Services supervisor training during this reporting

period with an additional cohort class that just began in August/2008. In these

classes, attendees are trained on conflict resolutions, how to handle hostile work

environments and how to recognize

and deal with discrimination issues.

Action Taken

Number

Unsubstantiated

Letters of Reprimand

Transfer of Defendant or Complainant

Letters of Concern

Letters of Direction/Warning

Mediation

Performance Improvement Plans

Diversity Tr

aining

Suspension/Resignation/Termination

Retirement

•

Upon a teacher claiming there was a hostile work environment at a school, an

intensive investigation via focus group interviews was conducted. The charge

was unfounded and the teacher making t

he claim was transferred to work in two

different schools, giving him a fresh start.

This report is compliant.

Accordingly, the Superintendent shall not:

1.2.1

Operate without written personnel policies and/or procedures, approved by legal

counsel,

whic

clarify personnel rules

for faculty and staff,

provide for effective handling

of grievances,

and

protect against wrongful conditions.

Interpretation:

EL 1.2.1 “

Operate without written personnel policies and/or procedures”

asserts the

Superintendent will

provide written personnel policies and make them available to all

staff.

Data Reported:

Current policies and procedures, along with the Master Agreements [Licensed, Classified

and ATU] are posted on our district’s web

site [updated June

–

July, 2008].

dministrative employees met monthly to discuss pay for performance issues and

working conditions during this past year. All Personnel “G” policies are on the district

web

site for employee review and was upgraded throughout the year via District Policy

uncil adoptions.

Interpretation:

“Approved by legal counsel”

is interpreted to mean the Superintendent will ensure a

legal review occurs by the school district’s in

house legal counsel and outside counsel for

SY 2007

08 before any Superintendent or distri

ct policy adoption.

Data Reported:

Our District Policy Council was established by our Superintendent in SY 2004

05 and is

currently chaired by our In

House Staff Counsel. The BOE’s external legal counsel also,

attended these meetings and reviewed all per

sonnel policies and procedures before

adoption. This process enables any and all policies that come before the Policy Council

to be reviewed and approved by both legal counsels. Outside legal counsel reviewed

contract language for all of our Master Agree

ments this past year before they were

ratified by our Unions and accepted by our BOE.

Interpretation:

“Clarifying personnel rules”

is defined as sharing information with our staff on policy

changes and updates.

Data Reported:

•

Human Resources provided a w

ritten executive summary to all Administrators

and Supervisors on Master Agreement contract changes in late June, 2008 once

the Master Agreement was ratified in early June.

•

Master Agreement language and policy changes have been updated on our web

site.

terpretation:

“Provide effective handling of grievances”

refers to there being a process in place for

grievances to be heard by the District that are filed by our bargaining units.

Administrators/Professional Technical employees have due process to voice

their

disputes to their supervisors with an appeals pathway to the Superintendent and to the

BOE.

Data Reported:

Our Master Agreements detail clearly defined grievance procedures. There have been

zero violations to the grievance process not being followe

d. Monthly meetings have been

facilitated by Human Resources with our Administrative employees to hear and resolve

due process issues via our Principal Advisory Group. There were no appeals to the

Superintendent and/or the Board of Education by our Admin

istrative/Professional

Technical associates regarding violations of due process. Supervisors are trained on

grievance and due diligence procedures on an annual basis as a part of Human Resources

evaluation workshops.

Interpretation:

“Protect against wron

gful conditions”

refers to there being personnel policies in force to

ensure equal treatment of our employees.

Data Reported:

•

Personnel Policies, Administrative Policy G

–

Personnel and Policy AC,

Nondiscrimination/Non

Harassment of Students and Staff, ar

e in place to deal

with unfair treatment of our employees.

•

94.1% of our employees surveyed stated they felt the rules for them at their

school were fair.

•

During this reporting period, there were no reported incidences of employees

submitting complaints to

the Superintendent or to the BOE for unequal treatment.

•

During this reporting period, our In

House Legal Counsel has reviewed all of our

“G” policies and found them to be consistent with our Classified Master

Agreement.

•

During this report period, our Distr

ict Policy Council updated the following

Superintendent Policies:



GBA

–

Unlawful Discrimination/Equal Opportunity Employment

[approved by the Policy Council on 09/11/07]



GBAA

–

Nondiscrimination/Non

harassment of Employees [approved by

the Policy Council o

n 09/11/08]

This report is compliant.

1.2.2 Retaliate against any faculty or staff member for non

disruptive internal expressions

of dissent.

Interpretation:

“Retaliate for non

disruptive internal expressions of dissent”

refers to an employees

ability t

o express themselves in such a way that it does not knowingly or intentionally

hinder the best interest of the district and is done in a timely manner.

Data Reported:

•

There have been zero grievances filed for retaliation during this reporting period.

•

Duri

ng SY 2007

08, there have been zero reported incidences to the BOE, the

DCFT, the DCFCE or ATU by employees expressing a fear of reprisal for stating

their views in a non

disruptive manner.

•

All school employee surveys have been designed to protect responde

nts from

being identified

–

securing anonymity and alleviating any fear of reprisal for

expressing their views.

This report is compliant.

EL 1.2.3 a) Prevent faculty and staff from using established grievance and/or due process

proced

ures.

b) Prevent faculty and staff from bringing a grievance to the Board when

i) internal grievance procedures have been exhausted

and

ii) the individual alleges that Board policy has been violated.

Int

erpretation:

“Prevent…established grievance and/or due process procedures”

recognizes any staff

member cannot be denied from taking a complaint to the Board of Education regarding a

supervisor(s) or a colleague(s) if the appeal process does not resolve the

complaint. Such

action by the employee does not cause them personal or professional harm in following

this due process.

Data Reported:

•

During SY 2007

08, there were no instances reported where a staff employee

escalated their issues, complaints, etc. as

a first step of the grievance process or

due process procedures versus going to their supervisor.

•

Grievance procedures are in place for Licensed, Classified and ATU as a part of

their Master Agreements.

•

Administrators have a representative from each High

School Feeder on the

Principals Advisory Group where compensation and working condition issues

were discussed and resolved.

•

One Certified employee appealed their non

renewal to

the BOE after they had

pursued the grievance process t

hrough Level 3

to the Sup

erintendent’s designee

This report is compliant.

1.2.4 Fail to acquaint faculty and staff with their rights under this policy.

Interpretation:

“…acquaint…rights under this policy”

is interpreted to mean the Superintendent will

inform all staff as to wh

ere they can locate information pertaining to the interpretations as

defined in EL 1.2.

Data Reported:

•

learnings and personnel policies are in place for employees to review for

reporting child abuse, our evaluation process and handling sexual harassment

issues.

•

Upon this report being accepted by our BOE, our District web

site will be updated

with revised EL 1.2 information.

“Newsline”

will communicate these updates to

all employees on October 22, 2008.

•

Together with our Communications Office, Human Res

ources created a brochure

during this reporting period that was distributed to employees advising them of

this information.

•

During this monitoring period, our Communications Office and Human Resources

also, created a Staff Rights and Responsibilities Ha

ndbook and placed it on our

HR Web

site

–

advising our staff of their rights under EL 1.2.

•

EL 1.2 information is shared ongoing with our new hires during orientations and

contract signing meetings.