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School Personnel Management

Dwayne Mack

American College of Education

EL5753 - Law and Policy

Dr. Bernie Mulvaney

June 13, 2021

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School Personnel Management

There will always be a difference of agreement between parents and the school

administrations regarding their students. Schools must follow all professional standards and

practices when handling student issues. It is also essential for the administration to be familiar

with the teacher’s contracts and best practices for remediation when a teacher does not perform

according to standards. The situation must be handled, and all mandates must be followed.

Case Study

To recap the case study, Julia and her parents feel that Mrs. Wright is discriminating

against her. All of this takes place in front of the entire class. Along with that issue, Mrs. Wright

is not acting according to the rules set by the administration by not listening to requests and

directives and talking negatively about the school and the school board. With her attitude, other

teachers feel that Mrs. Wright is an inadequate representation of the school.

This case study will be examined from an administrator’s perspective in the School

District of Lee County(LCSD). LCSD is the ninth-largest school district in the state of Florida. It

has a student population of over 90,000 and employs over 12,000 teachers. With 120 high,

middle, and elementary schools, incidents between teachers and students are bound to happen.

However, with the district being proactive, they use a program mandated by the district to

address below standard employee performance known as FRISK.

The FRISK program was created to increase an evaluator’s knowledge base and skills to

address unsatisfactory performance. The primary objectives of FRISK are:

● Effect Positive Change through clear, accurate, and constructive communication to

support, refine, and correct job performance and growth before discipline.
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● Develop Common Institutional Language to establish uniform feedback.

● Promote Employee Accountability while recognizing individual characteristics and

dignity through values-based communication techniques.

● Ensure Legally Sufficient Documentation to support necessary discipline and defend

against discrimination complaints, grievances, and unfair labor practices charges.

The acronym for FRISK stands for F = Facts (Describe the facts depicting the below-

standard performance), R = Rule (Identify the rule (expectation or standard) that should have

been followed by the employee.,I - Impact (Describe the adverse impact of the employee’s

substandard performance in the workplace), S = Suggestions / Directions for Improvement

(Identity what the employee should do to correct the substandard performance by providing

suggestions and directions for improvement), and K = Knowledge (Ensure the employee has

knowledge of applicable personnel file rights when a corrective document is placed in his / her

personnel file) (Andelson, 2001). Based on the information provided by the LCSD, I used the

FRISK model as a guideline to evaluate the scenario brought forth in the case study.

When I first heard of the report from Juila’s parents about the conduct of Mrs. Wright.

We would get all of the information about the situation (Facts). Then, I would ask Julia to write a

statement about the incident(s) involving everything between Mrs. Wright and herself. She felt

that it had been discriminated against. At the same time, I would send Mrs.Wright an email

asking her to meet with me during her planning period or after school. If she is part of the

teacher’s union, I would ask her to bring her union representation (Teacher Association of Lee

County (TALC) to the meeting. Per Article 4 in the TALC Contract explaining about

representation, “ All members within the bargaining unit may have the right to be represented by

11 the Association” (Teachers Association of Lee County & The School District of Lee County,
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2021, p.6). During the meeting with Mrs. Wright, I would tell her that there is an allegation of

discrimination from Julia. Mrs. Wright would be aware of her due process rights as a teacher and

ask her to get her side of the incident. Mrs. Wright would also be informed that an investigation

is happening and write a statement about the incident. From that point, Mrs. Wright and her

union representative will convene and discuss her rights privately and what steps she has as a

teacher in the union.

While we get statements from both Mrs. Wright and Julia, I would also pull random

students in that class and ask them questions about the interaction between Mrs. Wright and

Julia. I will have them write about if they observe any comments by Mrs. Wright toward Julia

and singles Juila out. Once all the information (Facts) have been gathered, I decide to either

dismiss the claims against Mrs. Wright or move forward with the investigation.

Based on the evidence for the information (Facts), if Mrs. Wright were cleared of the

allegations, I would have a meeting with her and her TALC rep to discuss the investigation’s

finding. I would ask if any support would benefit her in making the situation helpful and a

learning process. I would also note to Mrs. Wright that nothing is going in her personnel folder

about this incident. We would have a meeting or phone conference with Julia’s parents and

explain the outcome of the meeting to try and smooth things out between the two parties. If that

could not work, Julia would switch to another teacher’s class for the remainder of the school

year.

On the other contrary, if the allegation of discrimination is valid, that would lead to the

next step in the FRISK model, the R (Rules) component. With the R component, you have to

decide what rule(s) were broken according to the state Department of Education (DOE)

professional standards or the school district professional standards. For example, the Professional
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Standards of Lee County and the State Board of Education Rule 6B-1.001 defines the Code of

Ethics of Education Profession in Florida. This Florida statute states that the following behavior

may be indicative of misconduct if a teacher: “chronically embarrassing a student” or

“displaying prejudice or bigotry against a student.” (State of Florida, 2010). Seeing that Mrs.

Wright violated two Florida statutes, the matter could be moved to the district office to the deck

of Professional Standards and reported to the Department of Education. Either way, in this case

study, Mrs. Wright’s incident would move to the I (Impact) component of the FRISK model.

When dealing with the I component for the FRISK model, you have to ask how Mrs.

Wright’s actions impact the classroom? If Mrs. Wright was discriminatory in class and the other

students noticed her singling Julia out, which could create a hostile environment in the school.

This could lead to Julia and even her friends not attending class due to the negativity of the

classroom. Students need to be attending class so that their grades and achievement are not

negatively affected. Also, Mrs. Wright’s attitude towards the school district and administration

creates a hostile environment for the students and teachers. If she is seen as someone who is

constantly talking negatively about the school district and school, that could affect how the

school is viewed in the public perception. Public perception is important because parents want to

send their kids to the best school. If a teacher publicly talks negatively about the school she

works at, that could lead to students being unenrolled from that school and not getting the best

students to attend that school.

Equally important is the S (Suggestion) component of the FRISK; with the S component,

I would focus on what Mrs. Wright should do right and try to get the desired outcome to fix the

problem. Some of the suggestions would include ideas and advice so that this incident would not

happen again, like for Mrs. Wright to use good language when addressing her students.
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Getting to the final component of the FRISK model, the K (Knowledge) component. Let

Mrs. Wright know that she is getting documents in her file. First, it depends on the degree of

seriousness of the employee’s misconduct. In some cases, if the incident is wanted as a support

invention, as an administrator, you can coach her and give her professional growth and guidance

to develop new skills, so this would happen again. With this step, there would be some type of

written observations placed in her evaluation folder. But if the incident were beyond a coaching

intervention, the next step would be to have a conference (oral warning) with the teacher and her

union rep. During the meeting, you would still provide a precautionary warning based on a

performance problem. That verbal warning would also be placed in a principal folder pending

further recurrence. If Mrs. Wright had a history of past similar conduct or aggravating

circumstances surrounding the behavior, the more formal invention would happen for written

warnings to a written reprimand. Both of these formal interventions are placed in the employee’s

personnel file. And if Mrs. Wright’s incident is seen as a violation of a state or district rule, she

could face suspension, demotion, or even dismissal based on the state or school district findings.

Conclusion

When incidences of below standards performance occur with teachers, the administration

must follow all district policies and procedures. Many times the actions of the teacher can be

remediated and resolved. However, when the actions are not correctable, the district will need

to follow the contract and laws to proceed with activity against the teacher. It is best practice to

use research-based strategies such as FRISK to address employee performance issues and work

with the employee to correct their behavior.

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References

Andelson, S. J. (2001). FRISK, Fundamentals for Evaluators in Addressing Below-

Standard Employee Performance. FRISK Publications.

State of Florida. (2010). Code of Ethics of the Education Profession in Florida. Florida

Administrative Code and Florida Administrative Registrar. Retrieved June 9, 2021, from

https://www.flrules.org/Gateway/View_notice.asp?id=12523396

Teachers Association of Lee County & The School District of Lee County. (2021,

January). TALC: The Collective Bargaining Agreement.