Although the vast majority of the school district's employees are dedicated to doing the very best for the children in our care, occasionally there are individuals who engage in various types of misconduct and face disciplinary measures, up to and including termination of employment.
The school district has collective agreements with 4 staff groups and those agreements all have provisions for appeals of disciplinary action if the employee and his/her union believe them to be unfair. In our district, the appeal hearing is called an "Interpretations Committee" and is composed of 2 representatives of the Board( usually trustees) and 2 representatives of the union. This committee must come to a unanimous decision to change an administrative action. Failing a unanimous decision, the union has the option of proceeding to arbitration, although this is not commonly done.
The misconduct cases I have been involved in reviewing included theft and fraud, but the most troubling are always the cases involving sexual misconduct with students. Those latter cases are dealt with swiftly and firmly.
Sometimes the police become involved in these cases and they enter the public domain. If that happens, trustees may be approached by the media or parents for comments on the matter, but must refrain from doing so, in order not to undermine the proper disciplinary and/or legal process. The ASBA has provided an excellent guide in this respect that you can review by clicking here.
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