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AL RODRIGUEZ

TASPA IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT

At the end of the 2003 school year, I was serving as the Middle School Principal and my wife was pregnant with our first child. We had just finished up with a DEC visit from TEA and the Superintendent asked me to come to his office. He and the Executive Director were there, and they asked me to take over Human Resources. I was told that I had done a great job in the past few years and because I knew how to get people to resign without grievances being filed, that they wanted me to move to Human Resources; a new department that the district did not currently have. HR had been an extra duty for the Executive Director. I guess he expected me to accept immediately but I told him I’d think about it and let him know the next morning. The next morning, I accepted the position and immediately upon acceptance, I was informed that we were over staffed in classroom aide positions for the district. My first duty as the HR Director was to conduct a Reduction in Force (RIF) for those positions. I spent the first few weeks of the summer meeting with several paraprofessionals, helping them to understand what was going on, and ultimately resolving the overstaffing issue without conflict. Some of the aides were from my previous campus, which made it more difficult because of the collegial relationship I had with them. In the end it was indeed a learning process I will never forget.

KIMBERLY RICH TASPA PRESIDENT

This was not my first year, but definitely my earlier years! The case is official AND made it to the Law Dawg.

It was an ordinary Wednesday, or so I thought. As the Executive Director of HR for Dickinson Independent School District, my days were filled with the usual assortment of paperwork, grievances, and the occasional oddball situation. But nothing could have prepared me for the “Assault Leave” saga that was about to unfold.

I received a call from one of our junior high teachers. She sounded distressed and explained that she had been knocked to the ground by a student who was walking backward in the hallway. She described how she had broken her ankle and had filed for assault leave. The twist? The incident wasn’t a clear-cut case of assault but more of a slapstick comedy moment that took an unfortunate turn.

It turned out that the student had been walking backward to avoid a larger student. Meanwhile, the teacher, who was supposed to be on duty, had her back to all the students in the halls during a passing period. She was engrossed in a conversation with another teacher and didn’t see the student coming. The student collided with her, sending her sprawling onto the floor. I couldn’t help but imagine the scene, half expecting the ghost of Michael Jackson to appear with a commentary on hallway safety.

Despite the absurdity, the incident was no laughing matter. The teacher filed for assault leave, citing the reckless behavior of the backward-walking student. As the primary investigator, I initially denied her request, leading to a grievance hearing where I had the unenviable task of reviewing her case AGAIN!

The teacher had a history of assault leave claims in other districts, which added another layer of complexity to the case. The video evidence was something straight out of a blooper reel. The student was clearly walking backward, completely oblivious to his surroundings, trying to avoid the larger student. The Commissioner later ruled that the student’s actions were indeed reckless, granting the teacher her assault leave. The ruling became a landmark case, providing much-needed clarity on what constitutes “reckless” behavior in our hallways.

This case not only highlighted the unpredictability of middle school behavior but also the importance of broad interpretations of assault leave statutes. As amusing as the situation might have seemed, it was a valuable lesson in not underestimating the potential hazards of student antics.

Now, this assault leave case is mentioned at almost every law conference event I attend. The story always gets lots of laughs and expressions of “OMG” from the audience. To this day, whenever I walk the halls of our schools, I keep an eye out for backward-walking students, reminding myself that even the most unexpected scenarios can become part of our daily challenges in education.

RODNEY CADDELL DISTRICT V REPRESENTATIVE

A lasting memory I have of my first year in HR really had nothing to do with HR itself, but rather making the transition from being a long-time elementary principal over to central office. At an elementary school there is always noise around, whether it is from the students, the classroom, the cafeteria, hallway traffic, or the chit chat throughout the building – there was always noise because of the high number of moving parts. When I moved to central office I wasn’t prepared for the overall quietness of the building. Yes, there was noise from conversations and interactions with visitors, but it was nothing compared to the noisier workplace of a campus. Over time I have evolved and have gotten used to this level of noise, but there are still days when I must leave the office and go back to the campuses just for the good noise and conversations that comes from a school.