Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Employee Relations topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Durham board directs staff and union counsel to produce cleaner draft of grievance policy
Summary
After lengthy debate and legal counsel concerns, the board directed administration, board counsel, Durham Association of Educators leadership and DAE counsel to meet and draft a clean version of the grievance procedure policy for fall review; the directive passed unanimously.
The Durham Public Schools Board of Education spent substantial time on a proposed employee grievance procedure policy that had been developed through meet‑and‑confer. Board legal counsel and administration flagged drafting and implementation issues; the Durham Association of Educators (DAE) provided responsive comments.
Given the number of unresolved drafting items and concerns about implementation clarity, the board voted unanimously to direct administration, board counsel, DAE leadership, and DAE counsel to convene and produce a "clean draft" of the policy for board review at an August/September work session (board members suggested August if feasible; September was acceptable given summer schedules).
Board members emphasized that the process should preserve the meet‑and‑confer work while incorporating legal and HR input to produce an implementable policy. Board counsel and legal staff said the existing draft had inconsistencies and implementation questions that would create problems if left unchanged. Several board members said they did not want to restart the entire process but instead wanted a focused drafting session to reconcile legal comments with the meet‑and‑confer text.
The motion directs staff to coordinate the meeting with union leadership and legal representatives and return a cleaned draft for policy committee or work‑session consideration; the motion passed unanimously.
Although the board discussed the draft policy in detail, members did not adopt the policy at this meeting; employee grievance filing remains available under existing procedures during the drafting process.
