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Policy AC-R
The The following plan for providing equal employment opportunity is hereby approved by the Board for use by the Superintendent in the administration of personnel activities for all employees:
Employment
The Board affirms that it will employ without discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression or age the best-qualified candidates who are available at the salary levels established for school employment.
The Board further recognizes its obligation to comply with the provisions of the Equal Opportunity Act of 1972, Title IX, and the Maine Human Rights Act of 1972 as amended, and the Code of Ordinance, City of South Portland, Maine which prohibits such discrimination in employment.
Therefore, the Board directs all concerned to take such affirmative action as is necessary to enforce and promote the Board’s policy of equal employment opportunity by implementing a continuing program which:
Prevents any unlawful discrimination in recruitment, hiring, layoff, termination, upgrading, demotion, transfer, compensation, or privileges of employment;
Determines whether any qualified applicants or employees are being subjected to unlawful discrimination because of race, color, age, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, or disability and provide for appropriate corrective action;
Identifies and corrects those techniques, procedures, and results of personnel actions which may have an adverse effect on the employment opportunities or status of such applicants or employees;
Achieves the most efficient utilization of skills that may be identified and developed among all school employees, for the purpose of rendering better service to the students of this administrative unit.
Recognizes that standards for termination, layoff, demotion, or discipline must be the same for all employees.
Ensures training for non-discriminatory hiring practices, and gender equity in-service training for teachers, administrators and the school board.
Ensures The School Department shall periodically assess the numbers of minorities, women and persons with disabilities in its workforce and determine where imbalances exist. Such assessment shall determine whether there is underutilization of a particular gender or minority or of persons with disabilities in different job categories in the school system. Underutilization occurs when the percentage of employees in a protected group (women or minorities) is less than the availability percentage for that protected group. Underutilization is calculated for employees in each job group. In determining whether underutilization in the workforce exists, the School Department will consider its current workforce profile, relevant local workforce statistics, the nature and validity of the School Department’s job classifications and the number, frequency and category of vacancies. If an assessment determines that imbalances exist in the School Department’s workforce with respect to numbers of minorities, women and persons with disabilities, it shall develop realistic goals for taking action including related procedures, timetables for correcting such imbalances, and progress reports.
Implementation
The Superintendent of Schools holds primary responsibility for the operation and success of the Affirmative Action Program. The responsibility has been delegated to the Equal Employment Opportunity Officer/Affirmative Action Officer (referred to hereafter as the “Officer”).
The Officer’s responsibilities include, but are not limited to the following:
Managing the organization, implementation, and all continuing aspects of the Affirmative Action Program;
Disseminating information and guidelines and interpreting federal and state requirements as they apply to personnel employed by this Board.
Working with administrators and supervisory staff to identify and correct problem areas;
Maintaining records and reports relating to recruitment, hiring, interviews, disciplinary action, promotion, transfer, and termination in order to comply with existing requirements;
Initiating remedial action or correcting any unlawful practices which may be brought to the Officer’s attention; and
Reporting to the Superintendent of Schools, when necessary, any findings and recommendations for enforcing compliance with the program.
Each person involved with the screening, selection, hiring, and promotion of applicants or employees is responsible to the Superintendent of Schools for:
Prevention of unlawful discrimination and proper enforcement of this policy;
Identification and reporting to the Officer any problem area in interpretation or application of policy guidelines and the disposition of any charge or grievance involving alleged discrimination; and
Maintenance of such records, reports, and documents as the Officer may be required to conform to existing law.
Affirmative Action Grievance Procedure
As it relates to the Affirmative Action policies of the South Portland School Department, the following procedure is stated to ensure that discrimination does not take place in employment, curriculum, or co curricular or athletic programs.
The District does not discriminate in the educational policies, programs and practices which it operates and will honor all appropriate laws relating to discrimination in regard to race/color, sex, religion, ancestry, national origin, age, physical/mental disability. In regard to employment policy the South Portland School Department will not discriminate in the area of sexual orientation as well as those stated above.
Definitions:
Grievance – a complaint alleging any policy, procedure or practice that would be prohibited by non-discrimination laws.
Grievant – any student or employee of this school district who submits a grievance relevant to nondiscrimination laws or an individual or group submitting on behalf of student(s) or employee(s).
Claim – the charge spelled out in its entirety, of discrimination and is limited to the provisions contained within the Affirmative Action Plan.
AA Officer/Coordinator – the employee designated to coordinate the School Board’s efforts to comply with the Affirmative Action Program. The person with whom a grievance may be filed.
Respondent – the person alleged to be responsible for the violation alleged in the grievance.
Grievance Answer – the written statement of the respondent regarding the grievance allegation.
Grievance Decision – the written statement of a Hearing Officer of his/her findings regarding the validity of the grievance allegation and the corrective action to be taken.
Hearing Officer – the representative of the School Board who is the delegated authority for hearing/resolving grievance at a Level 3 or Level 4 proceeding.
Corrective Action – action taken by the School Board or its delegated representative to eliminate or modify any procedure or practice found to be in violation of nondiscriminatory regulations and/or to provide redress to any grievant injured by the identified violation.
Day – means a working day (excludes Saturdays, Sundays, holidays, vacations).
Filing of Grievances:
Eligibility for Filing: Any student or employee, or any individual or group acting on behalf of a student or employee may file a grievance with the Affirmative Action Officer/Coordinator or Building Principal.
Informal Grievance Procedure – Level 1:
Report (not required to be in writing) incident to the appropriate discipline person (teacher, building principal, etc.). This person will meet with the person charged with the harassment and clarify specific behaviors that are unacceptable. Assign consequences and inform of further consequences if the unacceptable behavior continues.
The appropriate discipline person will keep an incident report and will send a copy of that incident report to the AA Officer/Coordinator.
Informal Grievance – Level 2:
Grievance may be filed with the Building Principal or AA Officer/Coordinator in writing and should be filed within six (6) months of the alleged act. The Building Principal shall contact the AA Officer/Coordinator immediately to request an information conference to discuss the grievance.
The AA Officer/Coordinator shall hold a pre-grievance meeting between the respondent and grievant within five (5) days of filing to collect data and shall make reasonable effort to resolve the problem without utilizing the formal grievance procedure.
This informal procedure shall not be a prerequisite to filing a formal grievance.
If the matter is not resolved within ten (10) days, the formal procedure will be initiated by the grievant.
Formal Grievance Procedure – Level 3 and Level 4:
The grievant shall inform the AA Officer/Coordinator that he/she is initiating the formal grievance procedure.
Within five (5) days of the filing of the grievance, the AA Officer/Coordinator shall notify the respondent of the grievance and of his/her responsibility for submission of a written grievance answer within five (5) days after receipt of the grievance notification.
Respondent’s Grievance Answer: The respondent shall, within five (5) days of receipt of a copy of the grievance, submit to the AA Officer/Coordinator, a written grievance answer. Such answer shall:
Confirm or deny each fact alleged in the grievance and in the respondent’s answer.
Indicate the extent to which the grievance has merit;
Indicate acceptance or rejection of any desired redress specified by the grievant, or outline an alternative proposal for resolution.
The AA Officer/Coordinator will send a copy of the grievance and the respondent’s grievance answer to the Building Principal and the Superintendent.
Level 3:
Confirm or deny each fact alleged in the grievance and in the respondent’s answer.
Indicate the extent to which the grievance has merit;
Indicate acceptance or rejection of any redress specified by the grievant or respondent; or
Indicate that the Hearing Officer will conduct an informal hearing on the grievance before rendering a decision.
Level 3 – Hearing:
The AA Officer/Coordinator shall arrange a date for the Level 3 Hearing and notify the grievant, the respondent and the Superintendent. The hearing shall be held within five (5) days after the appeal.
Persons present at the formal hearing shall be the grievant, the respondent, any individual requested by either party to provide assistance relevant to consideration of the grievance and the AA Officer/Coordinator.
Any procedures established to govern the conduct of the Level 3 hearing shall be at the discretion of the AA Officer/Coordinator.
Within five (5) days of the hearing, the Superintendent shall issue a written hearing decision that includes a statement regarding the validity of the grievance allegation, and a specification of any corrective action to be taken. Copies of the decision shall be sent to the grievant, respondent, and the AA Officer/Coordinator.
Level 4:
If the grievant rejects the Level 3 hearing decision or receives no written decision within the time specified above, he/she shall, within six (6) days of receipt of the hearing decision, notify the AA Officer/Coordinator of his/her intent to appeal to Level 4. This notification shall be in writing.
The Hearing Officer serving in Level 4 hearings shall be the School Board or representatives designated by the Board.
For any grievance referred for hearing at Level 4, there shall be two (2) alternative methods for grievance processing:
The grievance hearing may be conducted by the Board in its entirety.
The grievance hearing may be conducted by a sub-group of at least for (4) members of the Board.
The hearing shall be held within fifteen (15) days after appeal of grievance to Level 4 or no later than the next regularly scheduled Board meeting.
Any written materials or records submitted to the Board by the AA Officer/Coordinator shall also be transmitted to the grievant and the respondent. Both grievant and the respondent shall have the right to present such witnesses as they deem necessary to develop the facts pertinent to the grievance.
Issuance of the final hearing decision shall be by written statement regarding the validity of the grievance and any corrective action to be taken within five (5) days after the Level 4 hearing. The decision shall also include a statement of the reasons on which the decision has been based. Copies of the decision shall be sent to all members of the Board, the grievant, the respondent and the AA Officer/Coordinator.
The AA Coordinator shall act as grievant advocate if so desired by the grievant. If not so requested, he/she will observe the hearing and act as recorder.
The final Level 4 decision shall be made by a vote of the majority of the Board.
Other Issues:
Confidentiality: The grievant shall determine whether any grievance procedure shall be open to the public. A grievant shall have the right to determine whether or not his/her grievance record shall be open or closed to the public.
Maintenance of Grievance Records:
Any grievant may, at his/her expense, record any grievance hearing or proceeding on a tape recorder or similar device.
Written records of each grievance shall be maintained by the AA Officer/Coordinator. These records shall be maintained on a confidential basis unless otherwise specified by the grievant.
Public grievance files shall be maintained by the AA Officer/Coordinator for purposes of grievance precedents.
This separate public file shall indicate only the subject matter of each grievance, the resolution of the grievance, and the date of the resolution. These records, which shall be open to the public, shall not refer to any specific individuals.
All written records shall be maintained in the Office of the Superintendent for a minimum of three years after the resolution of the grievance.
Prohibition of Harassment:
No person shall be subjected to discharge, suspension, discipline, or harassment or any form of discrimination for having utilized or having assisted others in utilizing this grievance procedure.
Nothing in this procedure shall prevent any grievant from filing a complaint directly with:
Maine Human Rights Commission
51 State House Station
Augusta, ME 04333
(207) 287-6050
Department of Education Affirmative Action Office
23 State House Station
Augusta, ME 04333
(207) 287-5800
Director, Office of Civil Rights
Department of Education
Washington, DC 20402
IV. Advisory Committee
An Affirmative Action Advisory Committee shall be formed with the following representation:
One elementary and one secondary teacher selected by the Teachers Association;
Two non-classified employees.
One secondary or elementary administrator appointed by the administrators;
One member of the Board of Education;
Two secondary school students appointed by the student council
The Officer shall serve as ex-officio member of the committee.
The committee shall be elected annually in September and shall meet in October to review existing procedures and give written recommendations to the Superintendent. The committee chair and the Officer may call other meetings jointly.
The chair shall be elected annually.
Student Affirmative Action Program
The following plan for providing equal educational opportunity is hereby approved by the Board for use by the Superintendent of Schools in the administration of educational programs for all students of the South Portland School Department.
Student Rights :The South Portland Board of Education affirms the following student rights: “No person on the basis of sex shall be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any educational program or activity.”
Comparable facilities: The South Portland School Department will continue to provide separate toilets, locker rooms, and shower facilities for each sex, and such facilities for students of one sex shall be comparable to facilities provided for students of the other sex.
Course offerings: All course offerings shall be open to members of both sexes.
Physical Education: All physical education classes shall be organized to comply with Title IX. Grouping shall be done in compliance.
Counseling: Appraisal materials shall not be used on the basis of sex.
Adopted: May 14, 2001
Revised: December 10, 2012
Revised: December 11, 2023
