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Extracted from Consolidated Report

This investigation was originally published as part of a larger consolidated report containing multiple investigations. View the consolidated PDF for the complete document.

El Dorado County Grand Jury • 2014-2015

EL Dorado County Grand Jury 2014-2015 a School Bell Rings Off-key Case Gj-14-08

Published: May 13, 2015 4 pages

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⚠️ Translation Notice: This content has been automatically translated. The original English text is the official version. Translation may contain errors.

⚠️ Este contenido ha sido traducido automáticamente. El texto original en inglés es la versión oficial. La traducción puede contener errores.

Findings 11 findings

The El Dorado Union High School District has, for a number of years, operated outside the clear intent of the Ralph M. Brown Act.

Timothy Cary, a long-time member of the EDUHSD board of trustees, has wielded too much influence over the board and is primarily responsible for its deviation from strict adherence to the Ralph M. Brown Act.

Mr. Cary, an experienced school law attorney, has confused his participation on the EDUHSD board of trustees with his professional career, to the detriment of the district.

The County is not in compliance with requirements that employees be trained in employment rules and practices. Department directors report that new employees are not given adequate training on county policies but instead are merely given a stack of policies and required to sign an acknowledgement of receipt of those policies.

No effort has been made to comply with AB 2053 requirements. That effort is on hold while a new staff member is trained. In the meantime, staff and supervisors are not complying with it and other statutes mandating specific training. However, the legal requirements continue. They are not on hold.

Department directors report using the Human Resources Department staff as little as possible, both when recruiting staff and when dealing with employee discipline or complaints. Instead, they rely on their own expertise or that of County Counsel.

Failure to strengthen the Human Resources department has resulted in personnel issues being handled inappropriately by managers and supervisors who are not fully informed of their obligations under California employment law.

Members of the Board of Supervisors fail to comply with the legal requirement to notify the HR Department when they become aware of alleged unlawful activity against one of their employees.

Employees fear that a complaint submitted to the HR Department will not be kept confidential and they may be subject to retaliation. The HR Director acknowledged that this a reasonable fear, based upon past behavior.

F10

Inexperience causes the HR department to willingly defer handling of HR issues to County Counsel. This results in HR issues being handled from a defense oriented posture rather than in a proactive solution-seeking management effort. The Grand Jury observed that complaints filed with HR were investigated solely from the point of view of whether unlawful discrimination occurred while ignoring poor management practices.

F11

Investigations of discrimination or harassment complaints frequently reveal poor management practices or other employee misbehavior, but investigative reports are not shared with department directors. Managers are not informed of these issues when they are brought to light in the course of an investigation and, therefore, are unable to take remedial action.

Recommendations 4

R1

The El Dorado Union High School District Board of Trustees should contract for training its members in the requirements of the Ralph M. Brown Act. That training should be conducted by an attorney other than Mr. Cary and not an employee of the EDUHSD and should be held at an open meeting of the Board of Trustees with all members of the Board and appropriate staff in attendance.
R2

The EDUHSD Board of Trustees should formally adopt procedures for the conduct of their meetings immediately. Those procedures must conform to the requirements of the Ralph M. Brown Act. They should be adopted at an open meeting of the Board, after both notice to the public and an opportunity for the members of the public to comment on the proposed procedures prior to their adoption.
R3

Mr. Cary should separate his professional role as an education law attorney from his role as a member of the EDUHSD Board of Trustees.
R4

Each member of the EDUHSD Board of Trustees should recognize his or her own responsibility for the decisions and actions of the Board. No one member is entitled to deference not given to other members. RESPONSES Responses to both findings and recommendations in this Report are required by law in accordance with California Penal Code §933 and §933.05. Address responses to: The Honorable Suzanne N. Kingsbury Presiding Judge of the El Dorado County Superior Court 1354 Johnson Blvd. South Lake Tahoe, CA 96150 This Report has been provided to the El Dorado Union High School District Board of Trustees. The Presiding Judge of the El Dorado County Superior Court additionally requests that the responses be sent electronically as a Word or PDF file to facilitate the economical and timely distribution of such responses. Please email responses to the El Dorado County Grand Jury at: [email protected]