LEGAL SUPPORT: A BENEFIT OF MEMBERSHIP

OPC, a professional association specifically designed to meet the needs of school administrators, provides a variety of benefits for its members. Some of these benefits include professional development opportunities, peer support and networking, leading edge communications with and among members, briefings to members on breaking issues and lobbying efforts on behalf of all administrators to affect government policy decisions. In addition, a very significant service offered by OPC is in the area of legal support. This is a crucial service that is perhaps less well known, except by those individuals and their close peers who have personally required legal assistance.

Legal assistance is provided to local terms and conditions groups with a focus on the development of employment contracts with boards and to individual members in a number of areas:

• Personal contract issues

• Professional discipline

• General legal advice

• Disputes with Boards.

This support to individuals neither replaces nor duplicates board insurance coverage. Rather, OPC’s funding of legal services is designed to provide assistance in areas where an individual is not covered, but may have some risk of exposure and/or general legal need. Legal advice may involve either a scenario where the Board and administrator are adverse parties or one where the Board is a passive player but the stakes are such that the administrator must have legal representation. In some circumstances, the legal role for OPC can best be characterized as one of a watching brief. This means following the status of the legal proceedings, but not providing more active legal assistance because the administrator's interests are being protected and/or advanced by the Board pursuant to its policies of insurance. Only if, in the course of these proceedings, the Board and the administrator become adverse in interest does OPC legal counsel step in.

This area of legal assistance is by far the most intensive. The situations, which may arise in the area of professional discipline, pose the greatest risk to administrators in terms of their continued employment and professional standing. This category includes complaints made about administrators to the Board, complaints to the Ontario College of Teachers and complaints to a third party, such as the police or Children’s Aid Society.

In general, the complaints made by parents to Boards can be resolved favourably. Professionally, administrators' employment opportunities need not be jeopardized. However, what can prove to be a very challenging collateral issue is the right of a parent to express him or herself, particularly in respect of his or her child's well-being, and an administrator's right not to be defamed or harassed.

Another example of complaints to boards involves teachers accusing administrators of harassment. This type of complaint is a relatively new phenomenon to principals and vice-principals in Ontario. In defending these, OPC has identified serious gaps and omissions in various Board policies with respect to harassment and believes this is a growing matter of concern, both specifically for individual principals and vice-principals and generally for administrators across the province.

Complaints about an administrator, which are formally filed with the Ontario College of Teachers, present significant personal and professional challenges. Timely notice to OPC that a complaint has been made about an OPC member to the College is crucial.

Complaints about administrators, which are brought to the attention of third parties, can be the most challenging for administrators. The forum for the complaint is usually one which is foreign to administrators as it is outside the operation of the Education Act and the Ontario College of Teachers. This type of complaint may include allegations regarding failures to meet the requirements of other provincial statues such as the Child and Family Services Act. In such cases, an administrator may be afforded a defence pursuant to the Board's policy of insurance. However, OPC will provide independent legal counsel if the Board and the administrator become adverse in interest. This type of complaint may also involve accusations of abuse, assault, criminal harassment, etc. In such cases, members are advised to notify OPC immediately so that appropriate legal support can be given.

Local OPC terms and conditions groups are assisted in developing and/or finalizing their employment contracts with their respective Boards. In some instances this is simply a matter of wordsmithing. In other cases, it may include providing administrators with background information to assist them in negotiating sessions or in responding to issues of interpretation after contracts are finalized. In addition, training sessions and the provision of a continually updated contract manual are included in this area of legal assistance.

Advice and support are provided to individuals who require assistance interpreting the impact of the personal contract of employment on their specific situation, e.g. early retirement entitlement, pregnancy/parental leave and sabbatical opportunities.

Administrators have been assisted with information and advice on pension buy-outs, entitlement to retirement gratuities, transfer procedures, documentation in personnel files and termination of employment. Because administrators find themselves in a new environment without the inherent protections of a collective agreement, it is prudent to bring OPC and, if necessary, its legal counsel, into the "dispute" as quickly as possible to see if a negotiated settlement is possible. It is less likely that a solution can be achieved after the parties have become entrenched. Both the common law and statue law provides protections to all employed persons, regardless of formal contract status. OPC members will be advised as to their legal rights in these situations.

General legal advice involves contact with administrators concerning a broad range of issues. For example, advice and support might be provided concerning the giving of evidence in criminal proceedings, in Human Rights hearings, at an arbitration, participating in fitness to practice hearings involving a teacher, school athletic disputes and the issuing of trespass notices. Our goal is to try to get proper information into the hands of the administrator as events are unfolding and then provide follow-up assistance where required.

OPC staff would be pleased to answer any questions that members may have about our legal services. If a member feels he or she may require legal assistance, contact should be made with one of our senior staff consultants.

Senior staff consultants, all experienced principals, are part of OPC’s legal services. Their collective expertise, experience and training serve as resources to all members. In many instances, discussion with OPC staff will address the issue or concern raised. On those occasions where legal counsel is required, OPC staff will refer the matter promptly to our in-house legal lawyers.