NAPTA: FLAWED FLORIDA CONTRACT

Orange County Public Schools Grievance Procedure
Legend:

District Contract - BLACK

Comments by Susan Rummel - RED

ARTICLE III
GRIEVANCE PROCEDURE

A grievance shall be defined as a dispute involving a violation, misinterpretation, or misapplication of a provision(s) of this Contract. The grievance procedures set forth below shall be used for the settlement of said disputes.

General Provisions

Only a member of the bargaining unit, a group of members of the bargaining unit, or the Association may file a grievance. Whenever the word "grievant" is used herein it may refer to any of the above.

A grievant may have representation by the Association at any step of the grievance procedure. Representation by the Association shall include the right to speak and to present arguments and evidence on behalf of the grievant.

A union lawyer from Tallahassee, Florida who addressed teachers stated that both the union and the union lawyer may decide if they'll help teachers in need or not. Therefore, union membership does not guarantee representation. Notice the word "evidence." What has not been stated here is that any "evidence" a teacher may wish to present had to already be submitted to the district (opposing party). Nothing the district may present had to be presented to the teacher, teacher's union, or any representative the teacher may have. An attorney told me that couldn't happen in a civil or criminal trial because no one would be able to get a fair trail. Therefore, it would be considered unethical.

Nothing in this Article shall be construed to prevent any employee from presenting at any time his/her own grievance, in person or by legal counsel,and having such grievance adjusted without the intervention of the Association,if the adjustment is not inconsistent with the terms of this Contract, and if the Association has been given reasonable opportunity to be present at any meeting called for the resolution of such grievance.

Get an outside legal counsel IF YOU CAN. The district has "bottomless" taxpayer resources to hire the best lawyers (notice this is plural because they have a TEAM of lawyers). Most teachers that I've spoken with that have attempted to get their own legal counsel could not find one to take their case or, they had an extremely difficult time finding one. If they happen to find one, the legal fees are outrageous and they often cannot afford counsel.

Each written step in the grievance procedure shall be filed on a standard form as agreed to between the parties.

When I read that, I called my union representative and asked her where I could find the form mentioned above. I was told there was no such thing as a grievance procedure form. An attorney told me that they MUST have one because they are required to have one. Michelle Woods-Vanderley, my OESPA representative who has held her union position for well over 10 years claimed that no such form existed. I would later find the form on the union's website and print it out.

The Association shall inform the Employee Relations Department of the grievance number, school and grievant’s name when a written grievance is filed.

The parties agree to attempt to resolve grievances at the lowest possible level,and to present documentation and other needed information to that end.

All grievance meetings, including arbitration hearings, shall be held during the employee’s duty day and within his/her work year, unless the parties mutually agree to hold such meetings at other times. No employee shall suffer loss of pay for attending such meetings as a witness or party to the grievance.

The parties agree that tape recording of any grievance meeting, other than an arbitration hearing, shall not be done without the express permission of all persons present.

Either party to a grievance shall be granted a three duty day extension at any step in the processing of the grievance, provided that party notifies the other party, in writing, prior to the date that the time period for that step would elapse. The time limits prescribed herein may be modified by mutual agreement of the parties.

Whenever illness or other incapacity of a party to a grievance prevents attendance at a grievance meeting, the time limits shall be extended to such time that the party can be present, except that the grievant may appeal to the next step if the designated administrator is incapacitated beyond ten duty days.

If at any step in the grievance procedure, no disposition is made within the time limits prescribed for that step, the grievant shall have the right to proceed to the next step. If the grievant fails to appeal to the next step within the prescribedtime limits, his/her right to proceed with the grievance shall be waived.

I had to waive my right to proceed with the grievance procedure because I was unable to find the form that "did not exist" within the time limit. According to Michelle, it was just the way the contract worded it, there had never been a form.

If a grievance arises as the result of a condition which the administrator is without jurisdiction to resolve, the grievance shall be filed directly to the Employee Relations Department, and a meeting shall be held in an effort to resolve the matter, as provided for in Section C.3. of this article. Prior to scheduling the meeting, the written grievance shall be provided to the Employee relations Department, with a copy to the Association.

A grievant may withdraw his/her grievance at any step, but that same grievance may not be filed a second time, unless it is of a continuous nature.

If at any point during the processing of a grievance the grievant elects to seek resolution of a particular issue through a judicial or administrative agency proceeding, s/he shall waive the right to pursue only that particular issue through the grievance procedure.

The Board shall assure the grievant and any witnesses freedom from restraint,interference, coercion, discrimination or reprisal in the processing of a grievance.

How can they do that? Potential witnesses are generally afraid of losing their jobs for standing up to their bosses. Most likely, any potential witness that you may have, have also witnessed you being harassed by administration/school employees before the grievance process had even begun; they are aware that if they tell the truth, the same thing will most likely happen to them.

The filing of a grievance shall in no way interfere with the right of the Board to carry out its management responsibilities, subject to the final decision on the grievance.

Any grievance pending at the time of expiration of this Contract shall be processed to completion, according to the provisions herein.

All documents, communications, and records dealing with the processing of a grievance shall be filed in a separate grievance file and shall not be kept in the official personnel file of the grievant, except those that operationally or statutorily are required to be reflected in the personnel file.

When requesting personnel files, certain materials are confidential according to the Florida Law. The legal references the district gives are statutes: 119.07 (1)(A) and 231.291 (I have personally not checked these for validity).

All performance assessment records completed during the preceding school year and current year.

My questions are, school board members, does this mean that since the records were unseen, additional stuff could be added later and you could claim it had always been in that file? Note:I am not asking if you WOULD, I am asking if you COULD. Second, why can't current files be seen? Wouldn't most people "forget" about a problem approximately two years later?

The file contains no investigative materials for any investigation still in progress.

How long can an investigation last? Can investigations continue almost indefinitely if cause is found to continue them? Can newspapers print stories concerning investigations that you have not yet closed? I am asking that because according to the media, they will not because you could potentially sue them, would you agree that is true? If true, does this mean you have some control over what the media may or may not print about you?
Note: Investigative materials may be placed in your personnel file AFTER the grievance procedure has ended and who knows what they'll put in there.

A copy of any material contained in the file, which may be construed as derogatory to the employee, has been provided to the employee at least ten (10) days prior to the date the materials were placed in the file for review.

What do you consider materials that might be construed as derogatory?Can investigative materials be construed as derogatory? If the person was a previous employee of your district, does this statute apply after they no longer work for your district (that they must be notified)?

No payroll deduction records are contained in the file.

Does this mean the public cannot view corrections to flawed timesheets? This is a VERY interesting statement because it seems to directly conflict with a Florida statute (see below). So, if a principal were to use timesheets to fraud taxpayers of money (something that we suspect occurs all over our country), how could someone find out if the situation had been corrected?
According to the Florida State Statutes, a duty of the principal is to:
make the necessary provisions to ensure that all school reports are accurate and timely, and must provide the necessary training opportunities for staff to accurately report attendance, FTE program participation, student performance, teacher appraisal, and school safety and discipline data.
Florida Statutes available: REFERENCES>LINKS

No medical psychiatric/psychological records in the file.

Why would the district have that information to begin with? There are two more exceptions but I felt they weren't important enough to be noted here.

Grievances shall be processed in the following manner:

If an employee feels s/he has a grievance, the employee shall first discuss the matter in good faith with the administrator in an effort to resolve the matter informally. This discussion shall take place within 20 duty days after the employee knew, or should have known, of the incident which is the basis of the potential grievance. In the discussion, the employee shall advise the administrator of the particular section(s) of the Contract the employee believes was (were) violated, and how they allegedly were violated. The administrator shall respond within six workdays of the meeting, and include an explanation as to why the administrator believes the contract was not violated.

Good faith to resolve informally? That is a set-up to be harassed by administration. Notice that this is a REQUIRED step. In order to potentially have the opportunity to follow the grievance procedure you cannot bypass school administration. Also, the grievance procedure does not start immediately after you have followed the above mentioned, that gives school administration plenty of time to "create" evidence against you.

If the above action does not resolve the matter satisfactorily, the employee may file a written grievance within ten duty days following the administrator’s response. The written grievance shall contain a concise statement of the facts upon which the grievance is based, a reference to the specific section(s) of the Contract allegedly violated, and an explanation as to how the employee believes each cited section was violated. The grievance shall be filed with the administrator and copies shall be sent to the Employee Relations Department and the Association. A response shall be provided by the administrator, in writing, within six duty days from receipt.

Notice administration has now officially had up to 16 duty days (6 days for their response plus 10 for yours)to harass you and the procedure has not even started yet.

If the employee is not satisfied with the disposition of the grievance by the administrator, s/he may appeal the grievance to the Superintendent/designee. Such appeal shall be made within six duty days of the administrator’s response,and include the scheduling of a meeting in an effort to resolve the dispute. The meeting shall include the grievant, his/her representative if requested by the grievant and a member of the Employee Relations Department. At this step, both parties shall present any evidence to substantiate their positions in the matter. Within six duty days of the meeting, the Superintendent/designee shall respond.

If the grievant and his/her representative are not satisfied with the response from Step 3, the grievance may be submitted to arbitration. The grievant and his/her representative shall, within 20 duty days after receipt of the decision of the Superintendent/designee, notify the District of the intent to submit the grievance to arbitration. Prior to the arbitration hearing, the parties may mutually agree to pursue a form of mediation to resolve the issue. Resolution through such mediation shall be reduced to writing and signed by all parties to the grievance.

Orange County Public Schools Not Afraid of Union

Possible contract/state law violations:

An employee shall not be discriminated against because of race, color, creed, sex, national origin, age, handicap or marital status. In addition, the parties recognize that sexual harassment detracts from a professional and comfortable working environment. As such, the parties agree to work together toward the elimination of discrimination and sexual harassment from the work place. Employees are encouraged to report any allegations of discrimination or sexual harassment to their administrators or the applicable district-level departments for prompt investigation. Any claims shall be referred to the Office of Equal Employment Opportunity and the employee shall retain all rights to pursue his/her claim through the appropriate federal and/or state agency. Employees shall not be retaliated against for appropriately reporting discrimination and/or sexual harassment.

I am not going to even begin to describe here how the above written was violated. It would take pages and pages of explanations.

If an employee is harassed, upbraided, abused, threatened or suffers from bodily harm or property loss by an individual or a group during the performance of his/her duties, s/he shall immediately notify his/her administrator, in writing, as soon as possible, giving in detail the circumstances thereof. This report shall be forwarded to the Superintendent.

This happened each and every day by employees in their district. I believe it was even encouraged by administration.

When an employee has reason to anticipate a threatening situation that would be beyond what an employee is normally expected to resolve, the employee and the administrator shall develop communications or security measures appropriate to the situation.

I was told that if I was being stalked/harassed by a district employee, it was a police matter and the district would have nothing to do with that. They weren't concerned about their employees actions at the criminal level. The union has said that they would not get involved with a criminal matter (not criminal on my part). The saying, "They wouldn't help you if your life depended on it," directly applies to both the school district and the union.

A desk, chair and workspace for each employee. If the desk cannot be locked,the Board will provide the employee with another storage facility such as a filing cabinet or other area that can be locked.

I was given cabinets with locks on them but NO ONE had or knew where the keys to it were. It was explained to me that by law, I.E.P.'s (confidential legal documents) MUST be locked up at all times and that I was solely responsible for them. Since I had them in the classroom, I requested locks and was told that I already had cabinet locks (the fact that the locks couldn't be locked didn't matter). Plus, the lock on my desk was broken. Also, I did not have shelves in the classroom for student books except for the outer frame of what I assume had once been shelves. I was told that thing qualified as shelves although books (or anything else) couldn't actually be placed on them. I could see the storage room within 50 feet of told it would be too much effort to bring one to my classroom. I insisted that I was capable of carrying the small one made out of aluminum by myself if someone could just unlock the door. However, I was told that teachers are not allowed to carry furniture because they might get injured.

Teachers may refer disruptive students to the office from the classroom with a referral slip provided by their administrator describing the behavioral problem when, in the judgment of the teacher, normal corrective measures have been ineffective in bringing about satisfactory improvement in the student’s behavior. In emergency situations, the student may be sent to the office immediately with a written report to follow. Information on the disposition of the referral shall be provided to the teacher in a timely manner, and the status of the referral shall be provided upon request.

I would fall over in disbelief if any of the above statement was followed. Administrators treat teachers who send disruptive students to the discipline office as people who cannot perform their jobs. Students are well aware of that and it gives bad students power over teachers.

If a student is referred to the office because of continuing disruption, the administrator shall advise the teacher of the action taken in accordance with the Code of Student Conduct prior to the student’s return to the classroom on that day. If a student demonstrates a pattern of continued disruption, the teacher shall be granted a review of the matter with the administrator and/or a disciplineintervention team.

Action might be taken for students who continually disrupt? Since when? In fact, both I and a neighboring teacher specifically asked a discipline dean for ideas on what to do with a particular student that was continually disruptive. The dean asked us why we would ask such questions? Then wanted to know why we couldn't perform our jobs. Then he explained that he had no idea what to do with those types and told us to ask someone else or figure it out. I asked if he had any suggestions on who could give me that advice and his response was "NO!"What the heck is a discipline intervention team? One would assume that might be one of the three discipline deans at the school but it seems that was not the case.

Each formal observation shall be followed by a conference which provides privacy between the teacher and the administrator within ten duty days except by mutual agreement. Each teacher will be provided a completed copy of the applicable data collection form for each formal observation and will have ten duty days to respond in writing. The written response shall be appended to the form. The completed form must be signed by the teacher, however, the signature does not necessarily imply agreement. The completed form(s) shall be utilized in preparing the assessment report. Two or more observations, if completed within five duty days, may be combined on one form.

I heard other teachers ask administration when their meetings were going to be. I didn't bother to request one at that point (or any other point) because I figured my asking for essentials/basic rights had been worn out long ago. Ten days seemed to mean nothing to the school principal. I would later(months later) request for a copy of evaluation in writing (which I never signed or even saw) twice and still have never received it.

Employees shall be entitled to representation in any meeting with the administration when the employee reasonably feels that discipline may result.

I requested union representation twice and was told, "The union cannot help you here. If I knew now what I knew then, I would have gotten up and walked out of the principal's office. I feel that one of the reasons that I did not know to do that was because the union had not taught teachers how to handle situations. Also, according to the union contract, union members are supposed to each receive a copy of the contract book within so many days. The only reason I received a copy was because I happened to accidentally notice one and ask what it was. I showed it to another teacher at the school (also a union member) and he didn't know such a thing existed either. Why are members of the teacher's union so uninformed?

Prior to imposing any form of discipline, a fair and objective investigation will be conducted.

Their idea of a "fair" and "objective" investigation appears to be:

The more an employee/student knows about an actual situation/event, the less likely their chances are of being asked about it.

People that know about a situation through hearsay/rumors who are likely to say what administration wants to hear will most definitely be asked questions in an investigation.

Anyone willingto lie and/or manipulate stories and/or situations (regardless of their knowledge of actual events) in administration's favor will be consulted in great lengths by administration.

Anyone who actually knows the details and events who would tell the truth will not get asked any questions. However, administration will make sure they become aware or witness harassment of other employee(s) as a "preview of coming attractions."

Middle and senior high school teachers shall not be required to teach more than two subject areas.

I was required to teach three subject areas but that may be because I taught special education. However, these policies seem to be very precise and well written so I'd imagine that would be listed somehow if it were the case.

Personal leave may not be taken one duty day before and/or after a scheduled holiday or the first and/or last five days of the school year for students. This shall not be applicable in cases of emergency, to attend the graduation of a spouse, child, parent, or oneself or to work in a voting precinct or the observance of a religious holiday.

The paraprofessional(teacher's aide) I worked with violated this more than once and no one seemed to care.

During leaves of six or more duty days, an employee shall not be required to keep records, prepare lessons, or perform any of the duties required while in attendance.

The above statement just happened to remind me of one thing I didn't like about teaching. Even when teachers are out sick, they must prepare lesson plans (if less than six duty days). In fact, one of the purposes of CONSTANTLY having to write lesson plans giving details, on a constant basis, is to prepare for an unexpected absence. Also note, on all teacher workdays/student holidays the principalgave all employees the day off. We were the only school in the district that received that 'special' privilege. Not that I minded but it shows how much power principals can have. In other words, teachers at that school were given extra paid vacation days provided by the taxpayers. Last, I didn't find it (because certification deals with state laws so it most likely isn't covered in the contract) but I know that paraprofessionals are not allowed to substitute teach because they lack certification in that area. That didn't stop the school I worked at.

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Anonymous Florida III