School officials hire Burrell to update policy

By Lynn Hotaling

Members of Jackson County's Board of Education, meeting between interviews with superintendent candidates, voted unanimously to employ current Superintendent Frank Burrell to revise school board policy. He will begin the task, for which he will be paid $1,000 per month, upon his retirement Jan. 31 and complete the job by July 1.

The school board's current policy manual is outdated, said board member Ray Trine, and many existing policies are probably illegal as well.

"We can't afford to leave ourselves liable," said board member Ali Laird-Large.

Action on board policy dealing with religion is likely to come sooner than the July 1 target date for the complete revision. The local board, concerned by the effects of Supreme Court rulings with regard to religious activities led by school personnel on school grounds, as well as school-sponsored religious organizations, have scheduled an information session for Tuesday, Nov. 21. That workshop will be conducted by Allison Schaeffer, an attorney with the N.C. School Board Association.

Before deciding to contract with Burrell for the complete policy revisions, local board members discussed hiring attorneys employed by the state Board of Education, at a cost of $10,000, to perform the policy upgrade. School leaders plan to pay state school board attorneys $5,000 for a legal review of the completed local policy.

"The board policy manual is the guideline for operating the school system," said Trine. "It provides consistency and means every student is treated the same way."

Without the consistency supplied by up-to-date policies, Trine said, the school system opens itself up for criticism and lawsuits.

With regard to criticism, board Chairman Martha Queen brought up the matter of the community's perception of the board's decision to employ Burrell after his retirement.

"I know we'll get criticism for hiring a former superintendent," Queen said. "But, we don't have time, and no one in the school system has time (to tackle the policy changes). We have to pay (state school board lawyers) $5,000 (for the legal review), but we're still coming out $4,000 to the good."

Most people in the county are unaware of the extent and complexity of the policy rewrite, Trine said, or of the school board's role in the matter.

"The problem the school board has always had is people think we waste money," Trine said. "We're supposed to approve the policy manual, not write it."

Board member Laird-Large said the primary consideration for her was accomplishing the policy update as quickly as possible. State school board attorneys indicated it would be at least a year before they could complete the project, she said.

"If most of us go off the school board in two years, I certainly would like to pass on an up-to-date policy manual to the next school board," Laird-Large said.

"It just seems to me, to protect ourselves and protect the school system, we have to get this done," Queen said. "We can't just hire someone. We have to have someone who knows the schools. Frank (Burrell) knows our policy; the state school board attorney doesn't. You can't just hire somebody off the street to do this."

In order to meet regularly with Burrell on policy matters, school officials decided that, beginning in February, the first hour of each regular school board meeting will be devoted to policy discussion.

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