Suffolk Public Schools and the city are moving forward slowly with plans to explore consolidating services to reduce costs.

But after hearing a presentation about a similar effort elsewhere in Hampton Roads, School Board members warned Thursday the process could be lengthy.

John Kalocay said the Virginia Beach school district and that city considered 12 areas for shared services during his 18-year stint as assistant superintendent of operations, but they only came to agreements on two: landscaping and printing.

A guest of Chairman Michael Debranski, Kalocay advised the Suffolk board how it might go about the process. He said transparency, goal-setting and leadership are important.

First the board needs to “agree to explore,” he said, and then establish a committee with membership from the school district and the city.

“Above all, people in charge need to be in that room so they can be part of the process,” Kalocay said.

Short- and long-term goals should be established. Then, he said, the committee needs to ask itself, “What do we need to do to get to that end result?”

Transparency also is important, he added.

“You don’t do this in the dark. The worst thing you can do is do something like this under a blanket.”

Once explored, he said, the committees should create a report with recommendations and options, a timeframe and transition and communications plans.

A memorandum of understanding signed by both groups would help avoid legal pitfalls, he said, and customer service surveys provide “a lot of good information.”

But School Board members should be prepared to abandon the plan if it’s not working, he counseled.

While Debranski and Superintendent Deran Whitney were both generally supportive of the idea, if it could save money, other board members voiced reservations, peppering Kalocay with questions.

How did the school district and city work together in Virginia Beach? How long did the exploration take there? Was it all worth the trouble? Wouldn’t the process lend itself to political maneuvering?

But Suffolk’s political leadership is pressing for some level of consolidation, Debranski said.

“The city is looking to consolidate … and they’re asking us to take some ownership,” he said.

Whitney reiterated the point. But, he added, “We also want to keep in mind that we want to maintain the level of service that we have now.”