Grievance Policy

The Legacy of Excellence Board of Directors is committed to resolving concerns and complaints of students and parents in a fair and timely manner. Through this policy, the board is providing parents and students with an opportunity to communicate their concerns and complaints through an informal and/or formal process. While there is an opportunity to resolve concerns through the CEO/CEO designee or the Legacy of Excellence Board, the board recognizes that the informal process is important to fostering and maintaining a positive and collegial environment among its students, parents and teachers. Therefore, the board encourages students and parents to begin the process at the teacher and principal level whenever possible. This policy provides a complaint resolution process that shall be used at each of the Benjamin Franklin Elementary Mathematics and Science campuses.

Complaint Resolution Process

The following procedures have been established to assist parents/guardians and students in resolving concerns or complaints in a collegial manner. The intent is to provide a process to resolve disagreements in an informal and reasonable manner; and to provide a formal process when necessary.

Concerns should be expressed as soon as possible to allow resolution at the lowest possible administrative level beginning with the teacher or campus administrator who is closest to the situation. Complaints must always begin at the level in which the concern occurred.

Informal Process

Students, parents and guardians are encouraged to discuss their concerns and complaints first through informal conferences. The process begins by scheduling an informal conference using the Student/Parent Concern Form with the appropriate teacher and/or the campus administrator(s). This can be done by:

accessing and submitting the form through the school’s website;
accessing the form through the website and submitting it to the front office; or
obtaining the form from the front office staff and submitting it back to the office.

The school will track the concern and within 2 business days an email notification will be sent with a day and time of the conference that is mutually convenient for both parties. At no time will the conference take place more than five (5) business days from the time the Student/Parent Concern Form was received. All parties are expected to conduct themselves with acceptable standards of conduct to include professionalism, politeness and respect for others.

If the complaint is not satisfactorily resolved at the informal level, the process continues formally to the CEO/principal, and then to the Legacy of Excellence Board. If there is still no resolution the complaint may go to the Orleans Parish School Board in accordance with the Orleans Parish School Board policy KE Public Concerns and Complaints.

Access and Submit Student/Parent Concern Form through the website here.

Formal Process

The student, parent or guardian may initiate the formal process by timely submitting a complaint using the Student/Parent Concern Form through the website if:

(1) the parties involved in the complaint are not satisfied with the outcome;

(2) the complaint involves a staff member due to inappropriate behavior toward a student; and/or

(3) the situation is so egregious that it warrants a formal process.

Even after initiating the formal process, students and parents are encouraged to seek informal resolution of their concerns. A student, parent or guardian whose concerns are resolved may withdraw a formal complaint at any time.

Level I:

Students, Parents, and Guardians can access and submit the complaint form through the school’s website or from the front office staff. Please submit the form within 15 calendar days of the date the student or parent first knew or should have known of the decision or action giving rise to the complaint.

The CEO/principal will schedule a conference with the student or parent within 5 calendar days after receipt of the Student/Parent Concern Form.
The CEO/principal shall have ten days following the conference to provide the student or parent a written response.

Level II

The student or parent may appeal to the Legacy of Excellence Board if:

the student or parent is not satisfied with the outcome of the Level I conference; and/or
the CEO/principal did not provide a response in the timeframe outline in this procedure.

A request to appeal must be made in writing to the Board President to TVassel@loenola.us . The request must include: (1) the original forms filed with the school; (2) any written decisions on the matter from school staff; and (3) a statement describing the relief being sought through this process.

Access and Submit Student/Parent Formal Complaint Form through the website here.

Grade and Retention Disputes

A grade dispute is when a parent/guardian:

disagrees with the recorded grade on a class assignment or test grade.
disagrees with the recorded final quarter grade.
has a concern that grades or progress notification was not communicated timely or in accordance with the Parent/Student handbook.

A retention dispute is when a parent/guardian disagrees with the final average that does not qualify a student for promotion to the subsequent grade level. The dispute can be initiated if the parent:

has a concern that grades or progress notification was not communicated timely or in accordance with the Parent/Student handbook.
disagrees with the recorded final average due to possible miscomputation.

The grade or retention dispute process begins with scheduling an informal conference using the Student/Parent Concern Form with the appropriate teacher. Parents/Guardians should initiate this process within 7 calendar days of knowledge of the grade or retention. This can be done by:

Accessing and submitting the form through the school’s website;
Accessing the form through the website and submitting it to the front office; and/or
Obtaining the form from the front office staff and submitting it back to the office.

The school will track the concern and within 2 business days an email notification will be sent with a day and time of the conference that is mutually convenient for both parties. At no time will the conference take place more than five (5) business days from the time the Student/Parent Concern Form was received. All parties are expected to conduct themselves us with acceptable standards of conduct to include professionalism, politeness and respect for others.

The teacher will submit a Grade Dispute Outcome Form to the Academic Review Committee within 2 business days of the conference. The Academic Review Committee is comprised of the Master Teachers, and the Upper or Lower Grade Chairperson.

If the grade dispute is not satisfactorily resolved at the teacher level, the Academic Review Committee will conduct an investigation and render a recommendation to the classroom teacher within 10 days of receipt of the complaint. Within 2 business days of the receiving the recommendation, the classroom teacher will submit his/her final decision to the committee and CEO/principal. Within 2 business days of receiving the final decision, a verbal and written decision will be provided to the parent/guardian by the CEO/principal.

Access and Submit Student/Parent Concern Form through the website here.