WESTSHORESCHOOL

CONCERNS AND COMPLAINTS POLICY

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PURPOSE

Pupils, Parents, Caregivers, Staff and the Board of Trustees have a clear protocol for addressing concerns and complaints. The Board, as employer in the school, has the responsibility to ensure formal complaints against employees are handled correctly and responsibly. All concerns and complaints are resolved quickly and reasonably and in accordance with any applicable employment contract.

GUIDELINES FOR GENERAL COMPLAINTS

1Identify if the issue is a concern or a complaint and use the correct term until the issue is resolved.

2If the complainant is happy to discuss the issue with the person involved, then he/she should do that first, otherwise the complainant should discuss the issue with the Principal, Deputy Principal.

3If the complainant is not satisfied with the resolution provided by any of the above, then the complainant should write a letter to the Board of Trustees.

4The Ministry of Education and the Education Review Office encourage concerns and complaints to be resolved within the school. If the complainant does not feel the school is resolving his / her concern or complaint then these agencies can be approached.

5Principles of natural justice are followed at all times and the complainant’s right to confidentiality is observed in accordance with the Privacy Act 1993.

6A complaints register for complaints is maintained and kept in a secure place under the responsibility of the Principal.

7If the complaint is of a sexual nature the Sexual Harassment procedure should be followed.

8The Principal is entrusted to disregard malicious or vexatious complaints, but must note receipt of the complaint and be accountable for his actions.

GUIDELINES FOR COMPLAINTS AGAINST STAFF

1Complaints about employees should be addressed to the Principal or Deputy Principal in the first instance.

2Employees who are the subject of a complaint have a right to know the nature of the complaint and must be given the opportunity to respond.

3Complaints received from pupils must be given fair and reasonable attention.

4Complaints received from adults follow the following procedure:

(a)At all stages where there is a case to be answered:

-The employee must be advised of the right to seek representation.

-The employee should be given the opportunity to be heard by the Principal and/or Board.

-The Board may initiate disciplinary competency action.

(b)When the complainant, employee and Principal cannot satisfactorily resolve the matter, the complaint must be submitted in writing to the Board.

(c)The Board, on receipt of a complaint, will within 10 days put the case to the employee concerned in writing and seek a written response within 10 days.

(d)The complaint and response will be considered by the Board or sub-committee which will investigate and recommend a course of action.

5Disciplinary procedures comprise four stages:

(a)Verbal warning specifying the behaviour or job performance deemed unacceptable. This warning will be recorded in writing, signed by the employee and placed in the employee’s personal file with a stated expiry date.

(b)First written warning. This will make clear the corrective action required, time frame for improvement and consequences of continuing unsatisfactory performance (i.e. will place continued employment at the school at risk). Written warnings will have a stated expiry date.

(c)Final written warning. Where failure to correct the unsatisfactory performance by a specified date will result in the termination of the employee’s employment.

(d)Dismissed in accordance with the terms of the relevant employment contract.

6Providing there is no further infringement at the end of the verbal or written warning period, the records of any warning will be removed from the employee’s personal file and destroyed.

7The Board will ensure they do not pressure the employee for a resignation or engineer a situation where the employee feels he or she has no option but to resign (constructive dismissal).

8Where a Board member has a conflict of interest he or she will withdraw from any discussion so the issue can be addressed without bias or personal interest.

9The Board’s action in disciplining employees is open to scrutiny through Personal Grievance procedures.

10Before any decision is taken to dismiss an employee the school’s insurers must be notified.

11Where the concern / complaint is directed against the Principal, the Deputy Principal will assume the Principals role, therefore where “Principal” appears, read as Deputy Principal.

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