Strategy 3: Accountability

Action Steps:

• Site and department administrators will be provided support and training for proper documentation methods and strategies for holding employees accountable for appropriate behavior and work ethic.  Professionalism and proper behavior will improve when employees are held accountable in a supportive and productive manner.  

• Executive Cabinet and the Board of Trustees will model and uphold the district values, policies, and procedures and hold people accountable—not looking at the individual but instead paying attention to the practices—so managers feel empowered and supported when making decisions that will best suit the school site or department. 

• We will include expert input from individuals on the panel who have the same role as the applicant being interviewed.  This will ensure that CJUSD is hiring highly qualified professionals who fit the culture of the district, site, or department leading to improved student outcomes and employees who feel valued as professionals. 

• We will develop, maintain, and communicate a system of high expectations of performance for students and themselves.

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Obstacles:

• Strategies for improving employee behavior and work ethic through the evaluation and documentation process are not consistently applied.  Supervisors rely on past experience and training unless the district ensures that these strategies are reviewed and implemented on a regular basis.

• Oftentimes, employees are not held accountable and unprofessionalism is not documented because they feel empowered to bypass and undermine the chain of command (not following protocols) and go to the highest offices in the district to express their discontent with managers and administrators.  As a result, managers and administrators feel a lack of support and accountability is lost; this continues to perpetuate the culture of unprofessionalism.

• Depending on who the experts are, employees may worry that past experiences with that expert (if the expert is an internal employee or relative) may influence their decision during the interview and that favoritism may be involved in the interview process.

• Overly focusing on student accountability can lead to a reduction in adult accountability.  

• Currently no shared understanding of “high expectations.” 

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