PROVO — Real life, in many instances, is more interesting than fiction. And the same is true when Charles Russo reads case law involving school district disputes.

"You can't make this stuff up," Russo said, referring to a case of a high school coach who invited the team to his church but told Catholic and LDS students they couldn't come because they are "going to hell."

Russo, who has a doctorate in education and a law degree, spoke at Brigham Young University's education and law conference last week.

Many administrators and members of school district boards of education throughout the state filled a room to hear Russo, who teaches at the University of Dayton, address "Basic Rights in Schools: Everything School Board Members and Educators Need to Know."

Russo had tips for people seeking employment with a school district.

Discrimination based on age or ethnicity is obviously illegal; yet, school district administrators sometimes make comments that allude to discriminatory hiring practices, Russo said.

Interviewees need to be cautious of questions such as "You have an unusual name; where are you from?" Or, "What are your retirement plans?" Russo said.

"An unfortunate reality of life in schools (is) once you hire someone, they don't always work out," Russo said.

School administrators need to protect themselves from lawsuits if they terminate employees. Most importantly, Russo said, administrators need to document instances of poor performance.

"It's going to take at least a year to document" poor performance, Russo said, and additional years to follow through with an improvement plan.

Easy cases, such as teachers who hit students, are rare. Most problems fall into "gray areas" such as classroom management issues.

"What does that (classroom management) mean?" Russo asked, which led him to emphasize the importance of being specific when documenting an employee's bad behavior.

If an employee needs to be disciplined, Russo said that an administrator should focus on present behavior and let past documentation speak for itself.

Administrators need to be professional when dealing with employees.

"You can write a poor evaluation. You don't have to be insulting. You don't have to be nasty. We all make mistakes," he said.

In the past, teachers who were facing termination have negotiated with school districts an agreement to leave — if they can get a positive recommendation in return.

And similar problems involving those teachers can surface at other school districts. Courts may find previous school districts liable, based on their positive recommendations, Russo said.

"My opinion — and that's all that it is — is you need to be honest, as long as you don't invade privacy" when making a recommendation, Russo said.

Thomas Nedreberg, an administrator with Tintic School District in Juab County, said it was refreshing to hear Russo's presentation on how to interview in a manner that doesn't violate an interviewees' rights.

But, he also was reminded just how difficult, in many situations, it is to fire an employee.

"You just have to deal with it," he said.

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E-mail: lhancock@desnews.com