2024 ACSA Personnel & Negotiations Symposium

Complaints or allegations of misconduct can happen to any district. Proper preparation and training can make a huge difference in the outcome. Learn how to gather facts, observe timelines and provide proper notifications to protect the rights of all parties. These experienced education attorneys will help you learn what to do and say and how to best use legal counsel in your investigation.

Moving into Human Resources is unlike other adminsitrative roles at the district level. It is so multifacted, daunting and full of legal compliance that can make or break a situation. Join this engaging presentation, geared for new HR administrators where you will get tangible take aways on how to successfully enter the HR role.

This presentation will provide participants with the basic tools, strategies, and approaches to obtaining evidence and making credibility assessments to reach an impartial finding. We will provide an overview of different types of evidence to consider, ways to obtain such evidence, how to analyze the evidence and what to consider when determining credibility of the evidence.

3 Key Audience Takeaways:

1. Understanding the types of evidence available
2. Understanding when and how to obtain relevant evidence in an investigation
3. Understanding the general process on reaching an impartial finding

Negotiations are often fraught with tension and misunderstanding. Why not try a new approach based on interests and mutual aims? The presenters have spent decades with negotiating teams who employ interest-based approaches to bargaining, achieving both successful outcomes and strong, trusting relationships among team members. This could be your better future!

Join Gilroy School District and former Newhall School District Superintendent, Jeff Pelzel (Director of Executive Leadership Engagement with PowerSchool) as they delve into the current educational landscape, addressing the talent crises and the complexities of a national teacher shortage. Leveraging their extensive experience in instructional leadership and systems thinking, they will present innovative strategies to transform these challenges into modernized opportunities. Attendees will explore comprehensive approaches to streamline recruitment, enhance teacher retention, and improve the hiring and onboarding processes through the use of technology and effective professional development. The session aims to equip educational leaders with practical tools and insights to foster a supportive and efficient work environment, ultimately giving valuable time back to their staff.

Key Takeaways:

1. Effective Recruitment Strategies: Learn how to develop a strong recruitment brand, utilize technology to streamline the hiring process, and engage all staff members in promoting the district to attract a diverse and qualified pool of candidates.
2. Enhancing Teacher Retention: Discover methods to reduce teacher turnover by implementing robust mentoring programs, fostering a supportive school culture, and providing targeted professional development opportunities to support educators at every stage of their careers.
3. Modernize Onboarding Processes: Understand the importance of standardized onboarding procedures and the role of technology in expediting and automating these processes to ensure new hires are smoothly integrated, thereby reducing the learning curve and enhancing overall organizational stability.

These takeaways will provide educational leaders with actionable insights to address the pressing issues of recruitment, retention, and onboarding, ultimately contributing to a more efficient and supportive educational environment.

It has been noted that “entry into the Education Code is painful” and “large parts of the Education Code are not meant to be understood” – and this was the California Court of Appeal speaking. This session will break down the otherwise indecipherable provisions of the Education Code as it relates to the fundamental rules of certificated and classified employment. Targeted for both emerging and advanced HR practitioners, we will cover fundamentals such as how the Education Code establishes the certificated and classified services, as well as advanced scenarios, such as the subtle yet significant distinctions in how the Education Code treats topics such as employee classifications, leaves of absences, seniority, permanent status, rehire rights, layoffs, and bumping with respect to certificated and classified personnel, as well as the interplay between Education Code rights and the collective bargaining process.

3 Key Audience Takeaways:

1. Learn about the Education Code’s fundamental structure and architecture setting up school district employment classifications.
2. Hear how the Education Code treats classified and certificated employees with respect to tenure, seniority, discipline, dismissal, layoff, and leaves.
3. Walk through hypothetical scenarios demonstrating how tenure and seniority concepts are applied under the Education Code.

Folsom Cordova Unified School District has implemented several practices to move from an adversarial bargaining relationship to a collaborative culture. This presentation shares experiences and strategies for bargaining teams.

Whether its plummeting enrollment, disruptions of all kinds, or pivoting to react to the latest legal mandate, the 2024-25 school experience is anything but certain. This interactive presentation will discuss strategies for approaching and negotiating pressing issues in this age of uncertain funding. Representative topics include goal setting, CBA audit, and key negotiation practices.

The presentation will discuss the need to develop and grow in-house certificated and classified leadership pipelines. Specifically by creating and developing leadership development programs within your own district.

This session explores issues of gender identity in the workplace and an employer’s obligations with respect to transgender employees, such as a potential duty to provide reasonable accommodations. We will also discuss best practices for supporting transgender employees and creating an inclusive work environment.

3 Key Audience Takeaways:

1. Hear a summary of how state and federal law provide protections for gender and gender identity.
2. Review potential and actual scenarios that arise in the workplace with respect to gender identity.
3. Learn about personnel practices and policies that provide gender identity protections as ensured under the law.