The Bismarck School Board welcomes constructive criticism of the schools when motivated by a sincere desire to improve the quality of the educational program or to equip the schools to do their tasks more effectively. The Board also has confidence in its professional staff and will protect them from unnecessary or spiteful criticism and complaint. Therefore, whenever a complaint is made directly to the Board as a whole or to a board member as an individual, it will promptly be referred to the school administration for study and possible solution. The Board expects that the administration will develop a procedure for receiving complaints courteously and that it will take steps to make a proper reply to the complainant. This follow-up should generally take the form of a brief written memorandum to the board members.
Anonymous complaints provide no avenue for response or redress of the complaint.
Therefore, it will be the policy of this Board that anonymous complaints shall not be pursued. An unsigned complaint will not be read or acted upon at any meeting of the Board and anonymous telephone complaints will not be brought to the Board by any individual board member, administrator, or other employee. Further, the administration will not act on any anonymous complaint. Complaints should be resolved at the lowest possible level of authority. If resolution of the problem seems unlikely at the building level either party is encouraged to refer the matter to the Superintendent for review.