Staff Speech Concerns

[Lissie Ham]

Dear LAPS Board Members,

I am very concerned with some of the new policies up for vote on staff speech. 

"District employees should avoid overt expressions of their personal political, religious, or other beliefs during their duty time or while acting in their professional capacity."

"Other beliefs" is so broad that it could cover almost anything that a staff member says. How can we expect staff members to avoid saying anything that is a belief? The policy also does not say who gets to determine if something is a belief or a fact. There are segments of the population who think "the earth is round" is a belief.

"However, an employee’s public expressions, including social media, may be held to workplace standards of conduct when the public expressions undermine the employee’s effectiveness in the workplace or are disruptive to the educational process."

Even without this policy LAPS has begun to police private social media of staff and parents. I know of several staff members who have been called by administrators after being sent screenshots from private Facebook pages or private Facebook groups. The same has happened to a number of parents. I know a large number of staff members who are afraid to voice concerns for their own children for fear of being reprimanded. I was a part of the group of parents who asked staff to answer very specific questions in a survey about switching to hybrid. During the course of talking to a huge percentage of district staff I was shocked to hear the number who stated that they had not answered honestly on the district survey for fear of professional repercussions. “I have been worried about copying and sharing for fear of retaliation which is why I have been hesitant to share a lot.” This is a direct quote from a teacher. I have several other quotes from staff saying variations of the same.

If this policy is put in place it will embolden this culture of censoring staff. I ask that this policy not be voted into place. 

Thank you,

Lissie Ham