Warsaw School Board Members Want More Time To Review Board Policy Updates
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David Slone-dslone@timesuniononline.com
Curt Hermann, Warsaw School Board member, has a problem with at least one of the board policy updates the board is considering. The proposed policy revision covers religion in the curriculum. It states: “Based on the First Amendment protection against the establishment of religion in the schools, no Corporation employee will promote religion in the classroom or in the Corporation’s curriculum, or compel or pressure any student to participate in devotional exercises. Instructional activities shall not be permitted to advance or inhibit any particular religion or religion in general.” The school board and the teachers union have not fully reviewed or approved the revision. The board will discuss it at a public work session, with the date to be determined. Hermann stated the policy’s clarification of First Amendment religious protection is not what the Constitution says. There seems to be an agenda with the policy, and the board needs to say that as a local community it doesn’t like policies like this, he said. It can’t just roll over and accept the policies it’s given to approve. Warsaw Community Schools gets recommendations for board policy updates from NEOLA®. NEOLA® provides school districts with a complete service for developing and updating board bylaws and policies, administrative guidelines/procedures and other school district information, according to its website at www.neola.com NEOLA® is currently working with more than 750 superintendents and school boards in Florida, Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin and West Virginia. “NEOLA® retains law firms in each state to provide legal reviews of published materials and to consult on continuing updates. Therefore, the legal accuracy and compliance of proposed revisions can be unequivocally guaranteed, provided, of course, clients do not choose to substantively alter the recommendations,” the website states. Each manual is based on templates that have been prepared by NEOLA's® school law firm from that state and are customized to the district’s unique circumstances through choices made by the school board and administrative team. The school board had 14 policy updates to review at its work session Tuesday afternoon. However, the board needed to be finished by 7 p.m., and by about 6:15 p.m. the board had just got to the policies. Some of the other policy updates included gifts and gratuities, military service, bullying, purchasing, staff use of personal communication devices and public attendance at school events. Jennifer Tandy, board president, said they could hold the first reading of the policies at their regular monthly meeting Monday, and then the second reading at the October meeting. But that’s when Hermann spoke out against the religion policy. Delores Hearn, board secretary, said to her the first reading was a time for discussion. Hintz said that could be done at Monday’s board meeting. With all the new policy updates, Board Vice President Matt Dick suggested another board work session to discuss them. Board member Randy Polston agreed, saying none of the policy updates were time-sensitive. Hearn then asked why they had to approve them by the October meeting. Tandy said they are continually receiving policy updates that need approval and taking too much time on some could create a backlog. On policy updates, Superintendent Dr. Craig Hintz said the general practice has been for the board to give them a first reading. They are then sent to the teachers association for review. Finally, the board gives the policies a second reading and approves them. If these policies aren’t approved until the November meeting, Hintz said that would be OK. The board will schedule another public work session to discuss the policy revisions specifically. In another matter, Director of Technology Brad Hagg presented a proposed memorandum of understanding with Warsaw Fiber for use of WCS empty fiber optic conduit between various sites in exchange for allowing WCS use of the fiber optic cable installed by Warsaw Fiber throughout the county. Hagg explained to the board that WCS has fiber optic cables running throughout the county. It was put in at WCS’s expense, and has been a great idea that has served the school district well, he said. When the “conduit” (piping) was put in from site to site, an empty conduit was put in next to the one WCS uses, Hagg said. WCS is still not using all the space it has on the conduit and the second one is completely empty. Warsaw Fiber wants to pull its fiber through WCS’s conduit in some areas. For any they pull, they will grant WCS 10 fibers per conduit. Hagg said that will meet WCS’s needs for years to come. The memorandum is for 10 years, after which it can be renegotiated. “We’re in a sense being a good neighbor if we do this?” Dick asked. Hagg said there’s a lot of benefit for WCS by doing this. Polston was concerned about WCS giving away space now that it would regret in 10 years. Hagg said 10 years is a long time, but his technology department can’t think of any situation where WCS would need it. Dan Metzger, board member, suggested the board’s attorney review the memorandum.
Updated Wednesday 10:36 a.m. to include policy language
