Dealing with Disgruntled and Obstructive Staff:

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As society becomes more politically sensitive, the role of the school administrator can become more adversarial when dealing with teaching staff. This can make it increasingly difficult to maintain good inter-personal relationships for the administrator forced to bear the brunt of criticism and animosity from disgruntled or obstructive staff members.

Legal advisors who specialize in the education field prepared the following guidelines. They are designed to provide assistance when handling harassing or abusive situations involving teaching staff. It’s also always a good idea find out if a Board policy exists for such situations. If so, it is recommended that the Board policy is strictly followed.

When confronted in person by a teacher, suggest that the matter be discussed somewhere quietly in order to avoid involving bystanders, especially students, in the debate.
Whenever possible, deal with the matter immediately. Do not use delaying tactics that can inflame the situation
Try to stay calm and listen carefully to the allegations being made. Discover the cause for the abusive or harassing attitude of the staff member before taking remedial steps.
Always maintain professional detachment.
If the matter cannot be dealt with immediately, arrange a suitable meeting time in order to more thoroughly explore the cause of the particular teacher’s behaviour.
Don’t involve any third parties at the initial stage of this process. If matters become more complex, consider having a witness present. Where the allegations suggest a dereliction of duties or involve the regulatory college, steps should be taken immediately to protect your position.
Immediately notify the Superintendent/Director in charge, both verbally and in writing in order to start a paper trail. Invite a response from the Superintendent/Director requesting direction and clarification on Board policy.
If a teacher is being abusive or insulting, try to discover is there is a latent problem that is motivating their behaviour.
If the behaviour of the teacher is particularly offensive, there may be grounds for are course in defamation charges. It’s important to note that this approach involves an extremely complicated area of the law and there are a number of very stringent conditions that have to be satisfied. (e.g. demonstration that a reputation has been harmed in the public domain, intent by the teacher to deliberately cause harm, no element of truth in the accusations, etc.)
If the teacher’s conduction is affecting his or her professionalism, this should be reported the Superintendent/Director in charge. Keep a written journal entry of all instances where the teaching process is being compromised.
Always use every effort to ensure that administrative superiors in the Board are supportive in any particular matter.

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© STERLON Underwriting Managers Ltd., 2006