Grievances and School Characteristics

Abstract

Todor, 1979), notwithstanding potential application of ,such data. The present study identified 25 characteristics of school principals (N = 76), teachers (N = 1,746), and pupils (N = 33,505), and designated their schools (N = 76) as high (above mean) or low (below mean) for each characteristic. High and low groups were not equal due to rounding errors. t tests were used to determine whether mean grievances for a 2-yr. period (1977-1979) were significantly greater for schools with high or low characteristics. The mean number of grievances was greater in schools characterized by high mobiliry of pupils (t = 2.46, df = 72, p < .05), low attendance of pupils (t = 2.42, p < .05), low attendance by teachers (t = 1.96, p < .05), high pupil enrollment (t = 2.50, p < .01), large number of teachers (t = 3.26, p < .01) but not teacher aides (t = 1.54, N.S.), high portion of low-income pupils receiving free lunch (t = 2.83, p < .01), high portion of minority pupils (t = 2.87, fi < .01), and low portion of staff with 6 or more years of experience (t = 2.71, p < .01). The distribution of grievances was positively skewed: 17 schools received 2 or more grievances, 27 schools received 1 grievance, and 32 schools received no grievances. Additional research is merited using a larger sample to compare the characteristics of extreme schools and to determine whether schools with these extreme characteristics are more clearly associated with conditions or staff attitudes which increase number of grievances. The promotion of school grievances by disuict-level union officers and the inexact methods used to record grievances make legitimate grievance research difficult. Union officers may promote grievances to keep the administration and boards nervous or to justify binding arbitration and inflate grievance means for schools randomly selected as test case sites. Conversely, school grievance means may be deflated where grievances were settled at the building level and not recorded. Notwithstanding these limitations, this study indicates that the mean number of grievances was greater in schools with selected pupils' and teachers' characteristics but not principals' characteristics.