In the month since I first reported on Tahoma School District’s litigation regarding the abuses of Bryan Neyers, TSD’s legal responses, and what I was told when I surprised TSD Board President Pete Miller (giving him no time to think or look into TSD’s actions regarding the questions I raised) by asking about TSD’s plan to increase student safety, Superintendent Mike Hanson gave me unrestricted access to ask questions related to these shocking issues in personal interviews of him, CFO Bill Hernandez, Teaching Director Lindsay Henry, Learning Director Gretchen Schlag, Director of Human Resources Scott Mitchell and Assistant Superintendent Tracy Krause.
The good news: TSD’s Board of Directors implemented CARES in 2021, a set of principles that has been driving continuous improvement in all TSD departments and classrooms and an increasing integration of the various TSD teams that strive to provide and continually improve high quality educational experiences to all of TSD’s students. See https://www.tahomasd.us/CARES The administrators I interviewed are new to their positions, energetic, passionate, extremely knowledgeable in their areas, effective, and are focused on the future, continually improving everything at TSD. They largely were hired after CARES was adopted, just as, just before, or after Neyers’ tragic and criminal conduct was exposed. They and the teams they lead are now in a multi-year process of improving the areas of TSD of which they are leaders. In separate articles submitted to the Voice, I have described some of the significant improvements made in both the Finance and Teaching & Learning Departments, results of this work, and culture of constant improvement, transparency and excellence now integral to these departments. The nitty-gritty of some of TSD’s actions and changes to protect students and staff (“staff” as used in this article includes all TSD employees – classified staff, teachers and administrators) was discussed in my recent interview of the Human Resources Department leaders, Mitchell and Krause.
Good leaders are problem solvers and motivators, getting their team members to collaborate with one another and with fellow teams in embracing and pursuing common goals.
When Mitchell and Krause started leading HR together in July 2022, they quickly found there was a lot of room for improvement in the areas HR manages and developed goals consistent with CARES to improve consistency in safety, training, implementation of policy, individuals doing the same tasks but in different areas of the District, hiring, supporting employees, and a myriad of other tasks. Leading their team of seven other HR employees, HR centralized reporting, centralized tracking, and added consistency in intervention related to allegations of wrongful conduct by students and staff in TSD and student misbehavior.
TSD acknowledged its responsibility for its failures with respect to the child abused by Neyers quickly after it was sued. Its legal responses were managed by the Board, Superintendent and legal team, all of which is confidential to the public. The new HR team set about implementing Board policies and CARES and improving District procedures. A high-priority goal is to make TSD continually safer for all students and staff, and a difficult and unwelcome place for a pedophile to infiltrate. Mitchell and Krause find that a focus on student and staff safety pervades the entire district now and is discussed in most of the meetings they attend. District-wide, they observe that everyone is motivated to make safety a top priority and continually strive to improve it. Their goal is to nurture and expand this motivation in the entire district.
The study of mathematics and the scientific method teach us that the first step in solving problems is to identify them; next is to separate each problem from the others; and then prioritize what to tackle first. To perform these steps and tackle improving all HR processes, the entire HR department meets weekly; subgroups of HR meet regularly. Input is received from TSD’s legal counsel, TSD’s risk pool, and a wide variety of state and national professional HR organizations, government agencies, employees, parents, students and community. Mitchell and Krause start their workdays BEFORE the TSD workday starts, consulting and planning while power walking together. They and their HR team committed to creating excellent “customer service” to TSD and set to work to identify and bring first-class solutions to all of TSD’s HR problems, knowing this was going to be a multi-year process.
The HR team quickly identified five categories of the most important issues: maintaining staff boundaries, harassment intimidation and bullying (HIB), sexual harassment including Title IX complaints, physical safety and crisis management, and staff/program complaints. This includes, but is far more comprehensive than, the Neyers situation. Internal procedures within the HR Department were developed for dealing with issues in these five categories that were consistent across the District and involved centralized reporting. In summer 2022, the District held its first common, comprehensive in-person training for all TSD supervisors and deans that covered these five categories, supplementing it with on-line training, and in summer 2023 added the first in-person, district wide training for all employees. Now the procedures for how to investigate, document, track and intervene in misconduct allegations in these five categories are the same district-wide. They have worked to translate relevant policy changes made by the TSD Board of Directors into clear, practical, and effective procedures all staff know and understand as they strive to incorporate the CARES principals and goals into all HR areas of responsibility.
After the Neyers litigation settled, TSD’s legal counsel and risk pool both provided Hanson, Mitchell and Krause with the names of reputable consulting firms that can come to TSD, comprehensively examine its student/staff protections, and make specific recommendations for changes and improvements. For legal reasons related to litigation apparently, this was not done earlier. The team process of analyzing these consulting firms to find the best fit for TSD’s needs is nearly done. Mitchell and Krause were excited when I met with them for the District to begin this thorough, top-to-bottom incident review of TSD processes as soon as the District’s procedures for retaining such a firm are complete, and eagerly anticipate having the opportunity to assist TSD in the implementation of recommendations for improvement.
In managing its tasks, TSD and its departments are required to comply with all applicable US and Washington constitutional requirements, US, Washington, King County, and local city laws, court decisions, administrative codes, and TSD policies & procedures. Teacher and classified staff union contracts must be adhered to. Compromise is required to get the right balance when there are conflicting legal requirements. Change must be driven by relevant data gathered comprehensively and analyzed based on reality, not by the heat of emotion and opinion, to be lasting and effect positive growth. The work is complicated and takes time to do it correctly.
Folks, this work is not easy. It has been frustrating for many to wait until TSD’s legal counsel and risk pool got the Neyers’ litigation to the point that the District can begin its top-to-bottom self-assessment. The time it takes to be thorough and get all of the details of policy and procedure right can be infuriating for everyone concerned. Ultimately, it will take the support of our entire community to convert TSD to a national model of providing the very best in student and staff safety, to make it extremely difficult for a pedophile to operate in TSD ever again, and to continually improve its processes to maintain this protection.
Jennifer C. Rydberg is a retired attorney, grandmother, and mother of two sons who attended Tahoma schools. She served a term on the Tahoma School District Board of Directors 1991-1995 including 1 year as its President. Active in ScoutingBSA, her husband was a local scoutmaster for 25 years; both received Silver Beaver Awards.
