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Guidelines for Handling School Complaints

PREVENTION AND HANDLING OF SEXUAL HARASSMENT POLICY

If the complainant is a student, a panel consisting of an almost equal number of members of both sexes will be appointed by the principal/school supervisor for conciliation and/or investigation of the case.
If the complainant or alleged harasser is a student, he/she is entitled to be accompanied by his/her parent/guardian/family member to attend the relevant interview so as to safeguard his/her rights.
If necessary, the complainant and the alleged harasser should avoid contact, in particular, private contact, during the period of investigation.
If necessary, support and counseling are to be offered to the complainant as well as the parents if the complainant is a student.
If the complainant is a staff member, the panel will be appointed by the Incorporated Management Committee for conciliation and/or investigation.
Both informal and formal complaint handling mechanisms for sexual harassment complaints are established. For details, please refer to Flow Chart on Handling Sexual Harassment Complaints. If the primary concern of the complainant is to stop the acts of sexual harassment as soon as possible by way of taking informal action (e.g., sending a clear message to the alleged harasser) instead of conducting an investigation into his/her case, the complaint will be handled informally to seek reconciliation. Generally speaking, the informal complaint handling mechanism is an appropriate way of handling minor and single incidents rather than serious and repeated acts of sexual harassment.

The interviews and the statements of both the complainant and the alleged harasser are to be documented.
A written report is to be prepared. The investigation result, the punishment and the considerations involved are to be made known to both the complainant and the alleged harasser.

Flow Chart on Handling Sexual Harassment Complaints

1.1.8 PROCEDURES OF HANDLING COMPLAINTS

Staff members are reminded to report any complaints to their supervisors. In general, unless the person concerned insists on making a formal complaint, the staff members responsible can promptly provide assistance or help resolve his/her problem by following the informal complaint handling procedures. Please refer to Diagram 1 for the flow chart of the complaint handling procedures in schools.

Informal Complaint Handling Procedures

Immediate/prompt handling	If the school receives an inquiry, opinion or informal complaint from the public, whether verbal or written, the frontline staff should listen to the concerns of the inquirer/complainant with care and understanding. If the incident is not serious, they should provide whatever assistance or information required or promptly respond to the concerns raised by the inquirer/complainant and help resolve the problems involved.
Immediate/prompt handling	If necessary, the school staff in charge of the relevant issue should have direct talks or interviews with the person(s) concerned to explain the schools’ stance and remove any misunderstanding, misgivings or worries of them. The school may, according to its own situation, set a time limit for an initial response (e.g. within two days).
Replying to complaints	For verbal inquiries/opinions/complaints handled by the informal complaint handling procedures, oral replies will suffice and written replies are normally not required. For opinions/complaints which are presented in written form or if the school wishes to make clear its stance or provide necessary details, the responsible staff may decide whether a simple written reply to the person(s) concerned/complainant is appropriate.
Complaint records	Cases handled by the informal complaint handling procedures in which an inquiry/complaint has been answered or resolved instantly, the designated staff or the principal should make an internal record in a log book for future reference, even if it is an anonymous complaint (Appendix I). A copy of the records should be sent to the SEO for school record after handling in a week.

Formal Complaint Investigation Procedures

Investigation stage	If the school receives any formal complaints, they should be handled according to the following procedures: in accordance with the school-based mechanism, assign appropriate staff to investigate the complaint and reply to the complainant; acknowledge receipt of the complaint (Appendix II), seek the complainant’s consent to obtain his/her personal data and information relating to the complaint (Appendix III), and inform him/her of the name, post title and phone number of the staff responsible for handling the case for contact purposes. if necessary, contact the complainant and other people involved or arrange meetings with them in order to have a better grasp of the situation or request them to provide relevant information; handle the complaint as quickly as possible (It is suggested that the school completes the investigation within two months after receiving the complaint depending on the situation, but should be within six months), and send a written reply to inform the complainant, staff members being complained and related persons of the investigation result; report to the Sponsoring Body the complaints if necessary in consideration of the complaint nature, scope, importance, parties and interest involved, etc. Examples of cases to be reported include but not limited to complaints against the Principal, legal related issues, corruption, sexual harassment, media reporting the related incidents, repeated complaints. if the complainant accepts the investigation result, conclude the case officially; and if the complainant does not accept the investigation result or the way the school handled the complaint and is able to provide new evidence or sufficient justification, he/she may lodge an appeal in writing against the school’s decision within 14 days from the date of its reply. if the case is referred by the EDB, submit a copy of the substantive reply and the investigation report (if requested by the EDB) to the EDB for reference. State clearly the investigation procedures, scope of investigation and whether the allegations are substantiated or unsubstantiated with justifications in the investigation report depending on the complexity of the complaint. if the school has decided to administer disciplinary actions, i.e. issuing written warning, withholding annual salary increment, suspending duties, or terminating employment, inform the respective District School Development Section of Regional Education Office duly.
Appeal stage	The school should adopt the following procedures with appeal cases: in accordance with the school-based mechanism, assign appropriate staff of a higher rank than those responsible for the investigation stage, or staff from a different section, to handle the appeal and reply to the complainant; handle and resolve the appeal as quickly as possible (It is suggested that the school completes the investigation within two months after receiving the request for appeal depending on the situation) and send a written reply to inform the complainant of the appeal result; if the complainant accepts the appeal result, concludes the case officially; if the complainant does not accept the appeal result or the way the school handled the appeal, the school should cautiously review the appeal process to ensure that proper procedures have been followed. if the complainant raises other new allegations, the school should handle them separately in order to avoid mixing up the old complaints with the new ones.
Resolving conflict through mediation	When handling complaints, the school may, having regard to the nature of individual cases, consider whether it is appropriate to adopt different means to resolve conflicts quickly. This includes seeking mediation service from a mediator or inviting independent persons/professionals to provide impartial views to assist the people concerned (including the complainants and the people/organizations being complained against).
Responding to complaints/appeals	If the complaint or appeal is in written form, schools should respond with a written reply. If the complaint is made verbally, the responsible staff may decide whether to respond orally or in writing.
Responding to complaints/appeals	Generally speaking, the time limit for replying to a complaint/appeal should be two months starting from the date on which it is received or when the complainant agrees to let the school have access to his/her personal data. If the information submitted is incomplete, the time limit should start from the date on which the school receives from the complainant the necessary information. If a reply cannot be given within the specified period, the school should explain to the complainant in writing why a longer handling time is needed. However, the duration for the whole handling should be within six months.
Complaint/appeal records	Schools should keep a clear record of cases handled by the formal complaint investigation procedures (Appendix IV)
Appropriate follow-up	At the end of the investigation/appeal stage, schools should review whether the complaint handling policies and procedures are appropriate and suggest proper measures to improve the method of handling and to prevent similar incidents from recurring.

Arrangements for Handling Complaints：

Designated staff – Taking into account the nature of the complaint, its scope and the people involved, schools may assign a designated staff or setup a task force to handle the complaint with reference to the following arrangements:

Targets involved	Investigation stage	Appeal stage
Students	Senior teacher /Assistant Principal	Assistant Principal / Vice Principal
Teaching and school staff	Assistant Principal / Vice Principal	Principal
Teaching and school staff	Principal	Supervisor
Principal	*IMC Investigation Task Force & School Sponsoring Body**	Supervisor / School Sponsoring Body & IMC Appeal Task Force*
Supervisor / IMC	Designated staff of school sponsoring body# / Task force	Designated staff of school sponsoring body# / Task force

# Designated staff can be the staff or the person in charge of the education office of the school sponsoring body.

* If a complaint involves the Principal, the IMC investigation/appeal task force may include independent persons/managers.

Confidentiality –All contents and information of complaints should be kept strictly confidential and restricted to internal reference or reference by relevant people only. When the school needs to collect personal data during the handling process or when they receive requests for the disclosure of data/records in respect of the complaint case, the school should observe the regulations and recommendations laid down in the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance. This means the school should establish procedures to ensure that only authorized people are allowed access to information relating to the case. The responsible people should not disclose or discuss in public any contents or information relating to the case without authorization. Arrangements for interviews or meetings are as follows：

State clearly whether the person(s) concerned can be accompanied by others (e.g. relatives, legal representatives) during the interview/meeting and reiterate this stance before the interview/meeting start; and
Indicate before the interview/meeting starts whether audio/video recording is prohibited or whether the consent of all attendees must be obtained if the session is to be audio/video recorded. This stance should be reiterated before the end of the interview/meeting.

Fair and Impartial Handling–

To avoid conflict of interest, any staff member who is the respondent of the complaint should not be involved in handling the case, supervising the investigation, or signing and issuing letters to the complainant.

Review of Complaints：

Complainants (parents, students, teachers or the public) or relevant organizations (including schools/the EDB) may request the “Review Board on School Complaints” (Review Board) to review these cases under the following circumstances:

The complainant provides substantial grounds or new evidence to show that the school/EDB has handled the case improperly.
The complaint has been properly dealt with through established procedures by the school/EDB but the complainant refuses to accept the investigation result and continues to complain.

Please refer to Diagram 2 for the flow chart of the Review Procedures.

Handling of Unreasonable Behaviour：

	Handling Measures
Unreasonable attitude or behaviour	Any unreasonable attitude or behaviour, including acts of violence, intimidation, and abusive/offensive conductor language, whether performed face-to-face, by phone, or in writing are unacceptable. The staff member handling the complaint should convey this message clearly to the complainant and demand that he/she stop acting in such a way. If the complainant refuses to comply after the warning, the staff member may terminate the meeting or conversation with him/her. Schools should develop contingency measures and guidelines to remind staff responsible for handling complaints to stay alert and take suitable action to protect their own safety. Schools should empower the staff member to make decisions, depending on the situation, on whether to terminate the interview or dialogue with the complainant and ask the complainant to leave, if his/her behavior poses an immediate threat to the staff’s personal safety or damages their personal interests. In an emergency or if it is deemed necessary, the school should take appropriate and decisive action, such as reporting to the police or taking legal action.
Unreasonable demands	If a complainant makes unreasonable demands which will have an adverse impact on the school, e.g. interrupting its operation/services or other stakeholders are affected by the unreasonable behaviour of the complainant, the school may consider putting restrictions on the complainant’s contacts with the school, including specifying the time, frequency, date, duration and modes of communication (for example, requiring the complainant to make an appointment before visiting the school, submit his/her views in writing, or contact only with the staff designated by the school). The school must notify the complainant in writing of such arrangements and handling procedures.
Unreasonable persistent complaints	Faced with these complaints, if the school has carefully examined the case and handled it properly under the prescribed investigation and appeal procedures and sent a detailed and unbiased written explanation regarding the outcome to the complainant, the school may decide whether to restrict or stop contacts with the complainant, and cease handling the case altogether. To avoid any unrealistic expectations on the part of the complainant, the school should communicate to him/her in a firm manner that a final decision has been made regarding the case and that the decision is irreversible. The school may send a “Reply Card” to the complainant (Appendix V).