Board of education holds work session
By Joey Pitchford
Published in News on January 31, 2017 9:57 AM
News-Argus/JOEY PITCHFORD
The Wayne County Board of Education prepares for a work session Monday morning. The board discussed teacher bonuses, donations and the NCSTAR program.
The Wayne County Board of Education held a work session Monday where members discussed various policies and went over a new program for keeping up with school improvement plans.
The public meeting, which began at 10 a.m. and ran until around 2 p.m., acted as a way for various committee groups to present their ideas and findings before the entire board ahead of their February meeting.
The goal of the work session is to get the board up to date on policies being brought to them before the official meeting, which is expected to cut down on the time spent explaining them before discussion and voting during regular meetings.
The meeting started with discussion on a new board policy designating board chairman Arnold Flowers and superintendent Michael Dunsmore as the official spokespersons for the board.
The policy, which will be voted on at the February board meeting, rules that board members should not express personal feelings or opinions while acting in their capacity as official representatives of the board.
Rick Pridgen, District 6 representative, had concerns about the policy.
He said it was too restrictive on board members' ability to speak their minds on the issues they had been elected to talk about -- especially at civic events where they might be invited to speak.
Dunsmore agreed and said that revisions to the policy are possible.
District 2 representative Len Henderson said that the policy needed to clarify what qualifies as "official," so that board members are more clear on when it is appropriate to speak their minds and when it is not.
The board also discussed thoughts on charging tuition for discretionary admissions to the school system, if the students admitted either do not live in the state or, more commonly, live outside the Wayne County Public Schools system boundaries.
Some surrounding counties charge the parents of students who enter their school systems from Wayne County, but WCPS does not charge for those coming in. In a system already suffering from overcrowding, losing out on potential funds from out-of-county students who could take space from county residents was potentially problematic, said District 4 representative Jennifer Strickland.
In particular, Johnston County charged parents of out-of-county students more than $1,600 to attend school in their system during the 2015-16 school year.
The policy coming before the board in February would require the board to set a tuition rate no later than Aug. 1.
Tuition could be waived if the student lives on a military base, demonstrates "extraordinary financial hardship," if the student's parent is employed by WCPS or a list of other qualifiers.
In a discussion carried over from the January board meeting, the board also talked about changes to the dress code as it applies to teachers.
District 1 representative Chris West said that principals should have the freedom to allow teachers to wear jeans occasionally as an incentive and a way to keep morale up, that suggestions reached a general agreement among the board members.
The new dress code policy would also allow for teachers to wear sleeveless dresses, which West said would need to be monitored to make sure no undergarments show while teachers move around.