Lotus School for Excellence strives to be proactive in promoting a positive culture between all of our community members. The following policies apply to grievances, including complaints, concerns, or conflicts, of any type. The administration and Board are committed to addressing and resolving grievances in a timely and efficient manner.
The Board places great trust in its faculty and administrators to manage the affairs of the school and to serve our school community. This grievance process should be used only for genuine complaints, concerns, or conflicts that require the attention of the School Director or the Board, not simple disagreements that can be managed informally. The Board will not typically review grievances based on the discretionary day-to-day decision-making or good faith judgment calls made by faculty or administrators, unless there is clear evidence of misconduct or a need to address a substantial issue.

Employees may also utilize this process to dispute work related decisions by administration, like non-renewals or other work related concerns, complaints or conflicts.
Please follow these informal steps before filing a formal grievance:

Address issues with those directly involved – Bring your complaint, concern, or conflict first to the person best positioned to address it. Make efforts to sincerely resolve the grievance with those who are directly involved.

If you are a parent and it is a specific classroom or academic issue, this will most likely be an attempt to resolve the issue with your child’s teacher. If it is a broader, school-wide issue, this will most likely be an attempt to resolve the issue with a school administrator. If you are an employee this will most likely be an attempt to resolve the issue with the co-worker with whom you have the issue, or your supervisor if it is a broader, school-wide issue.

Address issue with the School Leader who has oversight responsibilities - If your complaint, concern, or conflict is not resolved with the person directly involved, and that person is not a School Leader, notify the School Leader who has oversight responsibilities of you complaint, concern, or conflict and attempt to work with the School Leader who has oversight responsibilities over the matter to resolve it.

If your attempts to resolve the complaint, concern, or conflict informally by addressing the issue with those directly involved and a School Leader does not produce a satisfactory result, or you find the individual(s) involved to be non-responsive, and the issue is substantial, you may file a formal grievance by following these steps:

1. Complete a Grievance Form (available on the school’s website or front office) – This includes providing a brief summary of the issue; informal steps that were taken to resolve it, including discussions with those directly involved; the outcome of those attempts; the reasons why you were not satisfied with the outcome; a citation to any laws and/or policies that you believe were violated; and what you are requesting be reviewed and/or changed about the outcome.

2. Submit the Grievance Form to the Executive Director – The form may be submitted to the school’s front office or emailed directly to the Executive Director or his/her secretary. If the Grievance is an issue in which the Executive Director is directly involved or in which the Executive Director has already issued a final decision then this form may be submitted directly to the President of the Board for consideration under Step 5.

3. School Director Review – The Executive Director or a designee will, within three working days, review the Grievance and either reply in writing to the grievant or request a meeting. Others involved may be consulted on the issue and/or invited to any meetings scheduled to discuss the issue.

4. School Director Decision – Within ten working days of the date the Grievance Form is submitted, the Executive Director or a designee will provide a written decision or planned course of action regarding the Grievance to the grievant.

5. School Board Review – If the grievant is not satisfied with the Executive Director or designee’s decision or planned course of action, the grievant may request that the Grievance be submitted by the Executive Director or designee for review by the Board within five working days. If the grievant requests Board review, the Executive Director or designee will forward all documentation, including the original Grievance Form, any notes or summaries of meetings or actions taken, the Executive Director or designee’s final written decision or planned course of action, and any other relevant information to the Board. Board Members may request an additional statement from the grievant, as well as any other information it deems relevant to research or request. The Board President, or Vice President in the President’s absence, may appoint an individual to be a mediator to work with the Executive Director and grievant on a resolution before the Board determines if it wants to review the grievance. The Board President, or Vice President in the absence of the President, will determine whether or not to include the request on the agenda of the School Board’s next meeting. An individual Board Member can make a motion to have it added to agenda during the board’s next meeting, and it will be added with a requisite vote of the majority, following regular procedures. At all stages of this process Board members will take care to preserve expectations of privacy, including avoidance of public references to specific individuals or incidents, and may call an executive session to discuss any Grievances, for which an executive session is allowed. If the grievance involves a specific employee, that employee will be informed by the Board President, or Vice President in the President’s absence, before the meeting at which the issue may be discussed and will be asked if he or she wants the discussion to happen during open session instead of executive session. If the Board President or any member plans to add the grievance to a board agenda, then the grievant will be informed before the meeting that the issue will be discussed. If the Grievance is not reviewed at the next regular meeting following receipt of the request to review, it will be deemed resolved and the decision or planned course of action articulated by the Executive Director will be final, unless or until there is a change in circumstances.

6. School Board’s Decision – Any decision by the Board at the conclusion of considering a Grievance, or a decision not to review a Grievance, will be final and the matter will be considered resolved. Any future consideration of the matter will require a change in circumstances and the grievant will be required to initiate the process from the beginning. If there is not a change in circumstances, any Grievance Form filed on a matter that is resolved may be ignored or disposed of with a response from the Executive Director that the matter is deemed resolved.