The La Cañada Unified School District's governing board will look at several suggested ways of modifying the public complaint process at its 7 p.m. meeting Monday.

The recommended changes come months after parents criticized the district's policy for filing a complaint against teachers--either for a lack of protection from retaliation or too nebulous a process. The issue came to a head with accusations that a La Cañada High School teacher used inappropriate ethnic and racial terms to address her students.

Former board member Cindy Wilcox filed a complaint last June against math teacher Gabrielle Leko, whom students and parents have said called one student "Jew boy,'' referred to a class as "s--theads'' and mocked another student's stutter. Although Wilcox, filing as a member of the public, lodged her complaint in June, previous complaints against Leko's similar behavior seemed to dissolve without the complaining parents and students ever being told the outcome.

Regarding the June complaint, the district mandated sensitivity training and found that the language Leko used in class--though inappropriate--was intended as banter to create a rapport with her students.

Wilcox' complaint requested Leko be dismissed from her position. After several closed-door discussons on the matter, the board on Dec. 26 announced its unanimous decision to direct district counsel to pursue the option of a settlement agreement with Leko that would result in her "separation from the district."

While Leko continues to teach, another educator remains in the class during instruction. 

Recommended Changes to the Complaint Policy

Superintendent Wendy Sinnette delivered a presentation of the current complaint process during the regular December meeting, while soliciting questions and feedback from the community.

In an announcement from his Education Action Committee, school board member Andrew Blumenfeld noted that because the process exhausted the available time, the governing board did not have an opportunity to discuss the feedback from the community and potential opportunities for improving the accessibility and clarity of the process. So, Blumenfeld wrote, the Board gave staff direction to bring recommendations to Monday's meeting.

Blumenfeld's summary of recommended changes:

• If an employee learned of inappropriate conduct by another employee, he/she would be required to notify the principal and/or superintendent. 
  
  
• Retaliation against complainants would be made an explicit violation of Board Policy.
  
  
• Principals would be required to inform complainants of the complaint procedure, and provide a written copy of the process.
  
  
• The Governing Board would be notified when complaints make it to the formal level.
  
  
• Complainants would be notified of the policy against retaliation and encouraged to come forward to a principal and/or Superintendent if they felt this had been violated. Principals would be required to take steps to ensure this and other complaint policies were being upheld. 
  
  
• Administrators would be required to maintain records of informal complaints, and to adjust that employee's goals/objectives when two or more similar complaints were made in the same year. 

"I believe these recommendations are very reflective of the requests from the community, and will improve the accessibility of the process dramatically,'' he wrote in his committee announcement. "That being said, there are areas that could be strengthened further and clarified within the proposal, and I am looking forward to discussing these recommendations on Monday.''

A final vote will not come until the February meeting.  

Monday's meeting, moved up from Tuesday to accommodate schedules and ensure the full board's attendance, will also include a discussion of the annual school accountability report cards. You may view the full agenda to the right of this article.