Three Jefferson City School Board members joined new Superintendent Larry Linthacum and two other administrators for nearly two hours last week, looking at a number of proposals to modify the district's policies.
"I think we're very much like any other organization," Penney Rector, the assistant to the superintendent for Human Resources and Legal Counsel, explained. "You have certain procedures in place that guide your day-to-day practice."
Last Thursday's committee meeting with Board President John Ruth and members Doug Whitehead and Pam Murray was part of a routine process, Rector said.
"This committee doesn't change the policy," she noted. "Some things they're sending back to staff, to revise and look at and research.
"On others, they have made some recommendations that will go to the board for consideration at the next meeting."
School districts are free to create their own, local policies.
But, like many other Missouri public school districts, Jefferson City subscribes to the Missouri School Boards Association's policy service.
School districts don't have to subscribe to the service, although most districts that do have said the MSBA staff can do a better job of following all the changes than each local district can.
And the local districts still are free to modify or reject individual policies, if the local board believes the changes are in the district's best interests.
The Jefferson City School District posts its policies online at www.jcschools.us, by clicking the School Board link.
"They're accessible to anyone who inquires," Rector told the News Tribune. "We share information about the policies with anyone who contacts us with questions."
Thursday's discussions involved a number of different issues.
One major focus was how a district should handle an allegation of a teacher or staff member's inappropriate contact or sexual misconduct with a student.
The current policy states the employee "will" be suspended while the administration conducts an investigation, and the MSBA proposal is to change that to "may" suspend.
Linthacum said, in general, "We will go get their keys and put them on leave."
But, Chief Financial Officer Jason Hoffman wondered if a suspension should be automatic, "If you get an anonymous letter" making the allegations.
Linthacum then said, "If I'm made aware of something, I would like the ability - from an administrative standpoint, with fidelity - to go through the process to determine if there's any truth to it.
"If I think there's even a hint of something, I can assure you I'll get their keys."
The committee spent about 25 minutes continuing a discussion about the board's Open Forum policy at meetings, which limits someone from the general public to commenting only on an item that's on the board's agenda - and only for a three-minute time limit.
Whitehead and Linthacum both noted the current policy requires people to go through various channels before presenting a complaint to the board.
Whitehead said that policy is intended for administrators to "do the best you can to resolve the conflict" before involving the board.
Rector told the News Tribune that district employees "are obligated to be familiar with all the policies and to follow them - and they, annually, certify that they've looked at them and are familiar with them."
While Rector doesn't claim every district employee is "familiar with the intricacies of every policy," she's confident "they know of the general "big rocks' that they are involved with."
Meanwhile, Rector and other administrators review the policy-change suggestions MSBA has made, and will recommend actions for the seven-member board to take at future meetings.
The ultimate decisions on what policy should belong to the board.
Making the policies available online should help the public know where to look for answers to a question, Rector said.
"We make them available and will continue to make them available," she said, "and if anyone has questions, we'll provide them for them."