Revised District HR Policy Language Moves Forward to Public Hearing Following School Board Review

BRADENTON – A public hearing and final vote on proposed language for revised district Human Resources policies is now scheduled following Tuesday's school board vote to approve an advertisement for a hearing.
Among the subjects discussed during the workshop were dealing with applicant claims of discrimination, employee abuse of position for financial gain (such as coaches requiring their students to attend their own monetary athletic programs), and how much background information the district should share with fellow employers about former employees.

It is permissible under state law for districts to choose not to share background information about former employees with other employers, and the district's language was revised from "the district shall" to "the district may share information" about a former employee at the request of another district, Board Chair Bob Gause advised.

On educators or other staff benefiting financially from students through programs or services–which the proposed policy prohibits–Charles Kennedy remarked how even a former teacher's paid tutoring of a former student of his or hers could be a possible conflict of interest.

But Gause said that a student being tutored by a familiar teacher, as opposed to an unfamiliar one, may benefit from that familiar professional relationship. "The teacher (may be familiar) with how the student is wired," and of the best ways to efficiently instruct him or her, he said.

Karen Carpenter brought up about how such situations can be open to financial abuse by referring to a former volleyball coach who falsely promised student athletes access to college recruiters in exchange for money.

"I think we have a responsibility to make sure that it doesn't happen," she said.

The HR policy revisions are part of a larger review of written district policies and procedures by Neola, which has been underway since the company was hired in July of last year.

Dave Miner, the lone dissenter on the vote, argued that the board should be going through the entire HR policy revision at the same time; the board has instead been going through portions of the policy changes at workshops. "To go through and piecemeal to understand what we're going to approve and not do it all at the same time, I think causes confusion" in the community, he said.

Gause said part of the reason for the policy changes are communication with residents and to employees. "Policies are dynamic, they'll continue to change," said Gause. "(But) we want to get something in place that has board and public input, and that staff will be aware of."

The public hearing will take place September 22.