Uniform Complaint Procedures
October 28, 2008
The UCP complaint policies and procedures are required by the California Code of Regulations, Title 5, Sections 4600-4687.
What is a complaint?
A complaint is a written statement alleging discrimination, harassment, or a violation of a federal or state law or regulation. A complaint must be filed by way of the Uniform Complaint Procedures (UCP) as written in the California Code of Regulations, Title 5, sections 4600-4687. Issues that may involve filing a complaint using the UCP are under various state and federal programs that use categorical funds such as Adult Education, Career Technical Education, Child Development, Consolidated Categorical Programs, Indian Education, Migrant Education, Nutrition Education, and Special Education.
Williams Settlement complaints regarding instructional materials, emergency or urgent facilities conditions that pose a threat to the health and safety of pupils, and teacher vacancy or misassignment may be filed anonymously. Schools shall have a complaint form available for these types of complaints. Schools will not reject a complaint if the form is not used as long as the complaint is submitted in writing.
Not all complaints fall under the scope of the UCP. Many concerns are the responsibilities of the local agencies, including, hiring and evaluation of staff, classroom assignments, student advancement and retention, selection/provision of textbooks and materials, student discipline, provision of core curricula subjects, facilities, graduation requirements, homework policies and practices, use of general education funds and dress codes and school uniforms.
The following documents describe the process in filing a complaint. Topics include referring complaint issues, local educational agency responsibilities, district policies and procedures, filing a local complaint, time lines, appealing local agency decisions, department resolution procedures, the on-site investigation process, and CDE's investigation procedures and investigation report.
