Bias, Harassment & Discrimination

The Board is committed to an environment in which all individuals, including students, staff, job applicants, the general public and individuals with whom it does business, are treated with dignity and respect. Board Policy prohibits discrimination based on race, color, national origin, ancestry, citizenship status, religion, sex, economic status, age, disability, military status, legally acquired genetic information, gender identity or sexual orientation. The District will address bias, harassment, and discrimination in accordance with its policies and appropriate disciplinary actions.

Bias-related incidents refer to language, images or behaviors that demonstrate bias against another person based on but not limited to his or her membership in a group, based on race, ethnicity, national origin, sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, disability, age, religion or an individual’s particular characteristics, role or behavior.

Expression of ideas or points of view that may be offensive or inflammatory to some, may not necessarily be a bias-related incident. Shaker Heights Schools does value freedom of expression and the open exchange of ideas. This value of openness protects controversial ideas, but it does not protect harassment or expression of bias or harassment aimed at individuals that violate our policy.

An act that is intended to harm an individual by unreasonably or substantially interfering with an individual’s safety and security by creating an intimidating, hostile, or offensive educational or working environment that can be defined as harassment. These acts defined as harassment may be based on a person’s identity characteristics or they may not.

Please contact the District's Compliance Officer:

Dr. Lawrence Burnley
15600 Parkland Drive
Shaker Heights, OH 44120
burnley_l@shaker.org
216-295-4281

Individuals who feel they have been subjected to unlawful discrimination or retaliation may file a complaint, either orally or in writing, with the compliance officer or an administrator, supervisor or other District-level administrator. Employees are required to promptly report to the compliance officer or an administrator, supervisor or other District-level administrator when they become aware of incidents of unlawful discrimination or retaliation. All other persons associated with the District are encouraged to promptly report when they become aware of such incidents. Any administrator, supervisor or District-level administrator who receives such a complaint must forward it to the compliance officer.

The Board has developed complaint procedures, which are made available to every member of the school community. The complaint procedures are not intended to interfere with the rights of any individual to pursue action through State and/or Federal law, contact law enforcement, or file a complaint with the United States Department of Education, Office of Civil Rights, the Ohio Civil Rights Commission or the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

The Board has adopted separate policies and procedures for sexual harassment, including the identification of the Title IX Coordinator. All sexual harassment reports must be managed in accordance with the sexual harassment policy and procedure.

Matters, including the identity of both the reporting party and the responding party, are kept confidential to the extent possible.

Defining core terms and framework of diversity, equity and inclusion work is a vital step to ensure a community has a shared understanding.

The District's Investigation Flow Chart outlines the process once a report is filed, from initial assessment to possible resolution.

The incident will be handled in a confidential manner, except in cases where the District is required by law to notify families and community members. 

In matters where members of our school community (i.e. students, teachers and parents) have been the object of demeaning behavior that targeted a protected class. The Chief Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Officer will notify the Shaker Heights Schools community. 

For reasons of privacy and confidentiality, notification will occur only when the identities of the involved particles can be protected, and the notification will not interfere with any ongoing investigation. 

The purpose for notifying the Shaker Heights Schools community is to provide transparency regarding incidents of this nature while also creating awareness that can open discussion about ways to reduce/eliminate incidents of bias and insensitivity.

The timeline for investigating may vary from one investigation to the next as the amount of evidence presented may impact timelines.