DOE pares backlog of misconduct inquiries

The Department of Education’s backlog of employee misconduct cases has dropped to its lowest level in at least two years amid efforts to resolve investigations quicker and provide consistent guidelines to schools.

Twenty-seven employees — mostly teachers — were on paid leave while under investigation for alleged wrongdoing as of Oct. 1, personnel officials told the Board of Education’s Human Resources Committee last week.

That’s down from 63 pending cases at the end of 2014, when the BOE, citing concerns over the cost of paid leave, began probing the department’s handling of so-called department-directed leave and leave pending investigation cases. Department officials have since provided the board with quarterly updates.

Twenty of the current cases involve allegations against teachers, according to a list provided to the BOE. The teacher investigations include allegations of inappropriate conduct toward students (12 cases), inappropriate sexual relations with a student (three cases) and one allegation each of creating a hostile work environment and inappropriate use of DOE internet and/or technology. Three teachers also are under “suitability analysis” investigations to determine whether they are still fit for public employment and to work in close proximity with children.

The remaining investigations involve complaints against school custodians, educational assistants, a school security attendant and an administrative services assistant.

Under department policies, employees can be placed on paid leave for up to 10 days by the school’s principal, with approval from the complex-area superintendent. Longer periods or extensions require approval from the superintendent.

Two years ago the BOE turned its attention to the practice after hearing about the frequency with which employees accused of misconduct were placed on leave. Board members also were concerned about employees lingering on paid leave for extended periods.

In December 2014 the DOE on average was placing one employee a week on paid leave, and roughly 1 in 4 of those investigations would take longer than a year to complete. The board pushed for guidelines to help speed up the process while protecting employees’ due-process rights.

Barbara Krieg, who was named assistant superintendent for human resources two years ago, said in the past three months the department has opened seven investigations and closed 16.

Of the 27 cases pending, 14 have been open for six months or less; nine cases have been open for between seven and 11 months; and four have been open for a year or longer.

Krieg said of the dozen cases in the investigation stage, none has been under investigation for more than a year. By comparison, a report two years ago showed 11 out of 56 investigations had dragged on for more than a year.

“This really represents our initial focus on trying to minimize or complete investigations in an efficient manner. I’m very pleased that we continue to have no cases in which investigations are taking longer than 12 months,” Krieg told the BOE. “For the most part, we’re getting done in six months and sometimes faster.”

Krieg said new guidelines for schools include general timelines that recommend school-level investigations be completed within 45 workdays and administrative cases conclude within 120 workdays. She said the guidelines, which were vetted by the attorney general’s office, reflect the department’s responsibility to protect all parties involved, including the accused employee, any alleged victims and students.

Previously, investigation completion dates were open-ended.

“As with any new approach within the DOE, what we’ll do is continue to monitor and see in the future whether employees involved in the process find this helpful, whether anybody has feedback … and at some future time if we decide to revisit that, we can revisit that,” Krieg said.

Krieg, whose office staff provides training to employees with investigation responsibilities, also credits the backlog reduction to a “culture shift” around when paid leave is appropriate.

“I think that there has been a lot of awareness and training,” she said. “The awareness now is very different.”

The DOE began implementing the guidelines while they were still in draft form and undergoing review by the labor unions representing DOE employees, Krieg said. BOE member Kenneth Uemura recommended schools receive formal training on the final policy.