Why Wake schools will turn to an outside contractor to settle employee disputes
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Wake board created an independent employee ombuds role to settle staff disputes.
- Ombuds will be contracted, report to the board, and stay independent.
- District aims to build staff trust, reduce grievances and flag systemic concerns.
Wake County school leaders hope to build trust among school employees by creating a new position to help settle work-related disputes.
On Dec. 16, the Wake County school board unanimously passed a policy creating an “employee ombuds” position. According to the policy, the ombuds will provide school employees “with access to an independent, impartial individual who can help facilitate a confidential and informal resolution of concerns, conflicts, and issues arising” within the school system.
Wake has more than 20,000 employees. The majority of employees are teachers.
“They will start and solely report to the superintendent as an outside agency that is solely there to help restore confidence and trust when various staff folks have complaints that they feel are not being properly addressed,” school board chair Tyler Swanson said at the Dec. 16 work session.
It’s not immediately clear how much the new position will cost. The district plans to request bids from companies to handle the ombuds role as opposed to handling it in-house.
Does Wake need an employee ombuds?
Ombuds is the gender-neutral term for ombudsman, a position found in some government agencies and companies to handle complaints from the public or employees. Wake’s new policy is modeled on the one used by Orange County Schools.
In 2022, the Wake school board agreed to create an ombuds position to handle complaints from parents and employees. But school board member Chris Heagarty said the position was never filled due to budgetary issues and the lack of qualified applicants.
Superintendent Robert Taylor revived interest in the ombuds position but narrowed specifically for employee concerns. Taylor said having an ombuds can help employees work through issues to potentially avoid filing a formal grievance.
School board member Cheryl Caulfield questioned why the Human Resources Department isn’t already filling this role of informal dispute resolution. But Taylor some employees don’t go to Human Resources because of the perception that HR will represent the interests of the district over the employee.
“I think probably what you all have heard more than anything, an employee that has an issue with their supervisor and they believe that if they talk to HR, HR is really there to support that supervisor and not them,” Taylor said. “Now, that’s not the case.”
Wake will hire independent contractor
At Taylor’s request, the board modified the new policy to say that the employee ombuds will not be a district employee. Instead, Wake will hire an independent contractor whose performance will be overseen by the board.
“Employees maybe have a little more peace of mind,” said Neal Ramee, the board attorney who drafted the new policy. “This isn’t even a school system employee.”
Swanson, the school board chair and a former teacher, called the policy a “win-win” for the district.
“This is how you can improve academics by making sure that a teacher has an outside person that they can go to that is trusted, that is separate from the district,” Swanson said. “This is I think a way that we can build that trust with folks.”
In addition to helping settle disputes, the ombuds would report any “systemic and organizational concerns” they identify. But the ombuds would not conduct formal investigations or proceedings or make formal decisions.
If the position is successful, Heagarty, who was the previous board chair, said they can look at expanding the program to include handling complaints from parents and students.
