Complaint Process

Lots of stuff from the board meeting last night so I will have to report bit by bit.

I'll start with an issue I raised related to the complaint process. For some time now, the board has been encouraging the public to use the formal complaint process to address issues related to the superintendent's performance. They have said that their hands are tied until such formal complaints are made and I can see their point. So last month I filed just such a complaint
regarding contractual issues that I think are fairly clear cut.

Since that time, however, I have not received so much as an acknowledgement of that complaint. In other district complaint policies the time limit for responding in each step of the process is between five and ten days. After 35 days, I had nothing. So in the listening session toward the beginning of the meeting I asked about it and about the process in general.

The board chair opted to address the issue once the entire meeting reconvened and gave the following explanation: "When complaints about the superintendent are received, according to our policy, they are first given to the district's legal counsel to be sure it is a legitimate complaint. After all, people can complain about anything, including the suits the superintendent chooses to wear. In this case, the attorney has reviewed the matter and we have hired an investigator to look into it." [This is paraphrased. Once the video is available it will be posted here and you can listen to her explanation directly.]

First of all, let me be very clear - my complaint is not about his suits. Since the board chair has repeatedly claimed that there have been no complaints regarding the superintendent, where did this assertion of frivolous complaints come from?

Secondly, and more importantly, nowhere in policy (Public Complaint Process, Policy KL) is this process spelled out. I don't necessarily object to the process but I think the public has the right to know what the process involves. And, for that matter, so does the rest of the board. I had asked other board members what was going on with my complaint and no one seemed to know. It would appear that the board chair is determining the process on her own, perhaps in consultation with the superintendent (a direct conflict of interest), and leaving the other board members out. If this is in fact what is happening, the board chair is exceeding her authority. The board chair's responsibilities and prerogatives are confined to organizing and running meetings and acting as the spokesperson for the board as a whole. The board, not the chair, is the legally enabled entity charged with making decisions (in public meetings through parliamentary procedures). If they are developing new policy "as they go" they all need to be involved in that process.

Finally, who is the investigator and who will foot the bill? Why can't the board look into this on their own?