With any employer/employee relationship, there are paper and electronic files that must be maintained. Just as your school should have a policy on what is contained in an employee’s file and who will maintain it, your Board must do the same for its sole employee—the School Head.
Basic documents relating to payroll and benefits should be kept by the Business Office (Head’s payroll file). However, the Head’s contracts, evaluations, and supporting documents (and other employment-related correspondence) should not be accessible to anyone in the school. This is confidential information that only the Board should see.
If the Head has many years of service at the school, over time the file may become fragmented. With turnover of the Board (and its leadership) occurring more frequently, parts of the Head’s file may reside with one or more Board chairs or the school’s attorney. The “corporate memory” may become fuzzy, concentrating only on the moment and losing track of the Head's many accomplishments in previous years. For the benefit for the Head as well as the Board, this issue must be addressed—with the guidance of legal counsel.
In these contentious times, if a Board and School Head become embroiled in a lawsuit, the Head’s file can be subpoenaed. What if the file has become burdened through the years with inappropriate documents that somehow conflict with formal performance assessments?
An example would be correspondence outlining a problem needing remedy from the Head. Perhaps the Head took appropriate action and the problem was resolved, but this was not recorded in the file. Six years later, the Head leaves under strained circumstances. If there is a suit, the incomplete file will indicate the old problem was documented, but not that it was remedied to the Board’s satisfaction. This could come back to haunt the school and Board in court.
The Head Support and Evaluation Committee (HSEC) should be charged with keeping and maintaining the Head’s file. A systematic procedure for purging it of unnecessary documents and for turning over the file (when the person charged with its keeping, typically the HSEC Chair, is succeeded) must be established. The Board, in consultation with the Head, must make it clear that access to the file is limited, designating those few individuals on the HSEC who have authority over the file. In fact, it’s a good idea to incorporate the access agreement in the Head’s contract, to eliminate different interpretations of the procedure.
Prior to the Head leaving the school, the Chair of the HSEC should sit down with the Head to review the file. The final decision concerning what will remain in the file is made by the HSEC Chair. If there is a difference of opinion, an appeal can be made to the Board President, whose decision is final. The school should consult with its legal counsel to ensure the decision conforms to appropriate legal statutes.
Once its contents have been finalized, seal and store the Head’s file—perhaps in a safe-deposit box or a locked drawer in the school’s safe (if one exists). The Board should notify the school’s legal counsel of the file’s location and how to gain access to it, so there’s a “back-up” memory should a significant time pass before it is needed again.
Additional ISM resources:
ISM Monthly Update for Trustees Vol. 13 No. 6 When the School Head Leaves “Under a Cloud”
ISM Monthly Update for Trustees Vol. 12 No. 9 The Basics of a Head Contract
ISM Monthly Update for Trustees Vol. 11 No. 10 How to Enhance Board-Head Relationships
Additional ISM resources for Gold Consortium members:
I&P Vol. 32 No. 1 The Board’s Contract with the School Head: Solidify Expectations, Define Relationships
I&P Vol. 28 No. 16 Board/Head Relationship: Brutal Facts and Eternal Faith
