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Nepotism in Education

susanmoellersusanmoeller 1 Post
in HR & Employment Law Vote Up0Vote Down
Hi, Check out a news story I wrote about a new anti-nepotism policy in public education in New Jersey.
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  • 3 Comments sorted by Votes Date Added
  • bevhuntbevhunt 114 Posts
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    Having worked for a school system (HR in Central Office), I would like to see the policy extended to friends of the administrators' spouses. They were given prime aide jobs so they could put their families on the health insurance plan because their spouses were self-employed (attorneys, accountants, dentists, etc.)., However, applicants who genuinely wanted to work with children (recent grads and relocated teachers who hadn't secured teaching jobs, those interested in helping children with disabilities) weren't hired.
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  • cappycappy 217 Posts
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    Isn't this overly broad? Let me overly simplify an example so that my question can be easily understood. The article mentioned it is a small community. So let's say the community has some ties to each other in some way as relatives, cousins, in-laws, step-relative and so forth. The community needs workers but must go outside of the area under restriction by the 'law'. Effectively for no other reason than an act of nature, that is being some kin, no person in the affected area could be hired. Now let's say that the 'relative' is not particuliarly close to the family maybe even estranged. Why would there be a legal burden placed on relatives to make job placement more difficult than it would be for other non-relatives? Does this create a new category of discrimination or disparate impact? Nepotism not with standing, will this actually pass muster in a court?  
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  • HRforMEHRforME 497 Posts
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    Personal opinion here --

    I know that in our area, many times school positions (especially the ones outside the classroom, that is school secretaries, nurses, librarians,etc) all get filled very quickly. There is usually a waiting list and usually it is about who you know. Not always who you are related to however.  So in a way I could argue the policy is not broad enough to keep away the main "relationship" issue.  If a board member would give a job to a relation without qualifications, what's to stop he or she from doing the same with someone who is not related?  Instead, if it is truly an issue, then someone needs to work at voting that person off of the board.

    I personally think there are better ways to solve the issue than that broad of a nepotism policy.  Unfortunately for that district/state, they may loose out on some very good hires. In our district, I know many spouses who are both teachers and some who have moved up into administration.  They may have a hard time recruiting if the administrator has a spouse that wants to or has to work and they want to be in the same district.  If a person is the correct person for the job and have the right qualifications, then personally I feel they should have a chance at the job regardless of who they are related to.  Not that it should be automatic, but that they should have the right to work in the district.  Because in some places (in my state), the school districts are few and far between.

    I suspect this policy stems from some abuse of hiring decisions by a few.  I hate when the whole is punished for the actions of a few.

     

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