The headline pretty much said it all: “CMS: ‘We blew it’ on staff memo.” CMS? That’s Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools. Here’s the story of what happened.
The school system has been doing criminal background checks on new hires for years. When a teacher was caught shooting heroin on school property and when it turned out that same teacher had a history of drug abuse, the school system decided that they ought to check out current employees, too.
So far, so good. The idea was to take steps so that students and teachers in the system were kept safe. Background checks for current employees seem to becoming more common. Teachers even supported the idea, according to the Charlotte Observer.
So a staffer put together a memo and that’s where the problem started. It went out to 18,000 workers and informed them that unless they authorized the district to investigate their finances, background, character and “mode of living” they could be fired. They had a couple of days to sign the form.
Even though the additional background checks had been discussed, workers simply weren’t ready for anything like this. It arrived out of the blue. It was a shock.
The tone was heavy-handed. Comply by Friday, or else!
Just to add insult to injury, the memo didn’t represent the policy accurately. The district wanted to do criminal checks to look for people who might be a danger to students and staff. The memo described a credit check and even used wording taken from the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
To his credit, Superintendent of Schools, Frank Gorman, responded both quickly and contritely. He apologized for the notice and poor communication. He clarified what the district was after and promised that there would be more early discussion on the next version of the new policy.
Lesson: Even if adding additional background checks for current employees is a good idea, and even if they support the idea in the abstract, it’s still a loaded emotional issue. Act accordingly.
Lesson: Memos and other communication on loaded emotional issues should not be left to anonymous staff. Senior people should review them for both accuracy and tone.
Lesson: If you mess up, apologize. It’s the only way you can start making things better.