Shorewood School Board Rejects Grievance Policy

The Shorewood School Board’s willingness to collaborate with teachers and the community continued Tuesday, when it shot down a proposed grievance policy for educators and offered them a say in buliding it.

The board’s 3-2 vote against approving the policy was met with applause from a crowd of about 25. Board members voiced concern over the document at previous meetings, calling the policy "lacking" and "stacked in the board's favor."

“We want to create a secure working environment for our employees and I believe excluding them from this process does not create that environment,” board member Colin Plese said.

In fact, board members, teachers and community members plan to meet as early as Wednesday and start the process of developing a new procedure.

Grievance procedures must now be spelled out in an employee handbook, rather than in a contract between the district and the teachers union. The policy rejected Tuesday would have been much like the one in the contract, School Board President Paul Zovic has said — that is, until an appeal reached the board.

Employees used to be able to challenge a board decision through arbitration. Under the rejected plan, they could instead appeal to an impartial hearing officer, hired by the district, who would hear both sides and write a response. If still unsatisfied, an employee could appeal to the board that has the final decision. Both the impartial hearing officer and the board can decide not to hear an appeal.

Teachers would also be limited to what they can grieve, while previously they could object anything in their contract.

The board was presented a slightly tweaked version of the policy Tuesday, after some board members said some of the language was too vague or unclear. 

Under new state law, the district is required to have the policy, which handles employee objections to termination, discipline and safety issues. But there was some confusion among the board about when the policy was required, by the state, to be in place.

Early consensus was the district was out of compliance, as officials believed the district was supposed to have a policy approved by July 1. Zovic and Board Vice President Ruth Treisman said they couldn’t allow the district to continue to be out of compliance, and had to vote on principle, as the district could face a penalty and resulting loss of funds. Zovic and Treisman cast the two votes for approving the policy.

However, school officials now say that state law gives school districts until late October to finalize a procedure.