Retaliation is Alive and Well in DeKalb County's School System

Restore DeKalb blasts school officials for mishandling sexual harassment complaint

Written by Valerie J. Morgan

From On Common Ground News:

Restore DeKalb is calling for an outside law enforcement agency to investigate the sexual harassment/retaliation complaint of a DeKalb County School bus driver.

 

The organization says neither the new Governor-appointed School Board nor the interim Superintendent Michael Thurmond have provided follow-up to its request for an investigation.

 

Viola Davis, who heads Restore DeKalb, said she has been tracking complaints of school bus drivers since April after learning that whistle blowers were being unfairly punished for speaking out about their work environment. Davis said one bus driver's schedule was changed several times, making it difficult for the driver to learn new routes and children who were supposed to be picked up.

"It's ridiculous what they're going through. I had one grandmother break down crying," Davis said. "We were surprised to find that our documents were not read after two weeks and no one acknowledged they received the documents during this time," said Davis. "We were instructed by Superintendent Michael Thurmond to send documentation directly to him if we know of anyone experiencing retaliation. We sent the documentation to the Superintendent and copied the entire Board of Education. There is no excuse for our documents to go for two weeks without any reply."

 

On Common Ground News is awaiting a response from the School District.

 

Davis said Restore DeKalb is now seeking an investigation by an outside impartial third party law enforcement agency. She wants the third party to investigate the School District's Office of Internal Affairs in its handling of the case. Davis outlined several problems with the way the Office of Internal Affairs handled the complaint, including whether the person assigned to investigate actually had the authority to do so. Davis cited the following in a news release issued today:

·                The employees gave their statements about sexual harassment to Christopher Davis with the Office of Internal Affairs.  Mr. Davis stated that his job title is investigator and he has years of experience.  However, the state website lists Davis as a substitute teacher.  When I asked Mr. Davis if he occupied a supervisory position, he said, “no.”

·                One employee has filed an EEOC complaint concerning the sexual harassment above.  We have served as a third party witness to document the systematic methods of retaliation under the whistleblower policy.  We were forced to get involved due to the number of complaints received about the Office of Internal Affairs acts of retaliation.

·                The employees gave very intimate and graphic details about the work environment within the transportation department.  For the school system to place that information in the hands of a person that does not occupy a supervisory position is inexcusable.

· The employee in question has been reassigned over three times without written documentation and/or explanation for the reassignment.  The employee had changes to the work assigned with less than 24 hours’ notice.  To place any employee under such working conditions, especially one that drives a bus load of children, is hostile and despicable.   

· The employee was given several verbal directives that changed his work environment to include time schedule, work conditions, policies and procedures, etc. that single him out individually.  When this practice was challenged, a written document was submitted to the entire fleet of workers under the transportation department 2-3 days later.

·  The systematic retaliation that has occurred was documented and monitored since the initial intake of the written documents concerning the sexual harassment.  

· Once the employee filed a federal complaint, we educated the employee on acts of retaliation to watch out for within a government system such as change in time schedule, verbal commands without written documentation which can be denied later, directives that will make a person look incompetent, etc.

Restore DeKalb is seeking several actions: 

· Full investigation of the Office of Internal Affairs.

· Retrieval of the emails of prior Superintendents, Atkinson and Lewis, to assess if the acts of sexual harassment went to the top of the chain of command.

· Re-train upper management on sexual harassment and acts of retaliation.

· Update policies and procedures to make sure changes in work conditions and time schedules are given with written notices under the name of the supervisor issuing the change.

· Legal matters, such as EEOC complaints and sexual harassment complaints, are handled by people with fiduciary responsibilities.