Drew Charter School takes grievances seriously and strives to address and resolve grievances brought by students and parents/legal guardians regarding Drew Charter School staff in a prompt manner whenever possible. Our grievance procedure outlines how students, parents, or guardians can constructively share their grievances with the intent of collaborative, effective resolution. Grievances made by Drew staff, or grievances involving student-on-student issues, are not governed by this grievance procedure and are handled through other processes. 

Grievance Definition 

Our school defines a grievance as a violation of law, The Georgia Professional Standards Commission Code of Ethics for Educators code, or school policies or procedures regarding the school, a student, or a staff member. Please note that any alleged violations of Title IX are addressed through the Atlanta Public Schools Title IX grievance procedure. 

Please note the following regarding grievances: 

• Grievances should be reported through the process outlined in the steps below within 30 business days of the incident or issue giving rise to the grievance or within 30 business days from the date the person filing the grievance becomes aware of the occurrence. 
• Whenever a student registers a grievance and a meeting is scheduled to address it, the student may be accompanied by a parent or guardian. 
• When grievances are registered, the specific law, portion of the ethics code, or school policies and procedures violated should be referenced. 
• This procedure should not be used to address general concerns and complaints. Concerns and complaints should be addressed and resolved, usually informally, through communication with the immediately involved staff member or impacted academy leadership

Students and Parents/Guardians may register a grievance as described below: 

Step 1: 

The person with a grievance should bring it to the attention of the immediately involved school staff member. The first step should be to attempt in good faith to directly resolve the issue through a meeting among the concerned parties. 

Note: Depending on the nature of the grievance, Step 1 may be bypassed if the person registering the grievance is uncomfortable approaching the staff member directly, believes communicating directly with the staff member is not the appropriate course of action for 

resolution, or if there is a violation of law or the code of ethics. In these situations, the person registering the grievance should contact the impacted academy principal or Head of School directly. 

Step 2 - (Implemented on an as-needed basis) 

If the person bringing the grievance concludes that the initial meeting and the posed next steps are insufficient, or if Step 1 is bypassed, the person may, within ten (10) business days of the first meeting, submit a written request referencing the alleged violation of law, code of ethics, or school policy/procedures, via email, to the impacted academy principal (and any other persons involved in the matter) for a follow-up meeting. 

Within five (5) business days of receiving the written request, the academy principal will research the concern and determine if the grievance should next be addressed by an academy dean, another senior staff member, or the principal directly. The principal (or designee) will contact the person submitting the grievance to advise of a follow-up meeting plan, which will consist of one of the following: 

The principal (or designee) will schedule a meeting with the person bringing the grievance. Within ten (10) business days of the follow-up meeting with the principal, the principal will provide a written response to the person submitting the concern. The response will outline the next steps or the principal’s/school’s planned action regarding resolution of the grievance. In the response, the principal (or designee) will not disclose information that is considered confidential by law about other students or employees. 

OR 

The principal (or designee) will direct the concern to the academy dean or senior-level staff member, and the redirected staff will meet with the person submitting the grievance to work toward a resolution. Within ten (10) business days following their meeting, the staff member leading the meeting with the person bringing the grievance will provide a written response to the person registering the grievance with a planned resolution (copying the principal or designee). If the person initially submitting the grievance does not agree with the resolution, that person may, within five (5) business days of receiving the response, submit a written request via email for a meeting with the principal (or designee). Within ten (10) business days, the principal (or designee) will contact that person and schedule a meeting. (The principal (or designee) may choose to include others in the meeting if necessary.) Within ten (10) business days of this follow-up meeting, the principal (or designee) will provide a written response to the person submitting the grievance. The response will indicate a resolution status or the principal’s or school’s final decision regarding the resolution of the grievance. In the response, the principal (or designee) will not disclose information that is considered confidential by law about other students or employees. 

Step 3 - (Implemented on an as-needed basis) 

If the person with the grievance disagrees with the final decision regarding a resolution, he or she may appeal to the Head of School. The appeal must be made in writing, via email, within 15 business days of the final decision regarding a resolution referenced in Step 2. Within five (5) business days of receiving the appeal, the Head of School will contact the person submitting the appeal to schedule a meeting. Before the meeting, the Head of School will review the previously issued response and obtain additional information from the principal regarding the grievance and the planned final resolution(s). 

Within ten (10) business days of meeting with the person submitting the appeal, the Head of School will issue a status of final resolution or action regarding the grievance. 

Note: 

If any of the stated timeframes indicated in the above steps cannot be met by the school, based on the time needed to adequately research, investigate, and resolve the grievance, the school will notify the person filing the grievance and continue to pursue resolution as promptly as possible. Retaliation against any person because the person has filed a grievance, assisted, or participated in an investigation is prohibited. Persons who have engaged in retaliation shall be subject to discipline by appropriate measures. 

The Board of Directors does not formally consider registered grievances. Grievances are handled through the school’s administrative process as outlined above. Parents, guardians, and community members wishing to share thoughts and concerns with the Board may address the Board during the Community Input period of Drew Charter School Board Meetings, where each person desiring to speak may sign up and speak for up to three minutes. The Board will take each comment under advisement and may assign a staff member to follow up on issues raised. During Community Input at Board Meetings, the Board will not entertain comments on individual students or employees.