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A new drafted policy was brought to the School Board for a first reading at the May 22 meeting. The policy would replace a current Board policy, “School Board norms; protocols; violations,” and be replaced with “Aspirational statements; School Board norms; protocols; and consequences for violations.”

The drafted policy lists the following as new “aspirational statements to express goals, values and desires of the School Board and its members”:

• Speak candidly and courteously to each other and listen to dissenting or different viewpoints with an open mind.
• Help each other to depersonalize disagreements.
• Be respectful of the different staff roles and responsibilities throughout the school division.
• Maintain awareness of the different roles that School Board members play such as board member, citizen, parent, etc. 
• Maintain open communication with other School Board members, the administration and the community-at-large.
• Members should not rely completely on social media in order to formulate their decisions regarding School Board business, but should consider opinions from all stake holders as well as the opinions of the administration and fellow members on the School Board.
• Once the School Board approves an operating budget for Suffolk Public Schools, members of the School Board are expected to advocate with members of the governing body for passage of the School Board’s adopted budget.

The policy also listed the following norms to “ensure the successful exchange of information amongst Board Members and the public at large”:

• During public meeting discussions, Board Members are not to use language commonly accepted to be insults or intimidating.
• The official spokesperson for the Board is the Chair. However, Board members are allowed to express their own point of view when making comments to the media, at any public gathering, in print, or on social media regarding Board actions or matters involving SPS without having to first indicate they are expressing their own point of view.
• When posting on social media from any Board meeting, Board members should reference the official public record of the meeting.
• Board members may contact each other one by one. However, Board members are not to assemble in groups of more than two outside of a public meeting and discuss public business.
• Board members may communicate with the Superintendent by phone, email, or in-person meeting. In-person meetings between Board members and the Superintendent are encouraged.
• Board members serving on standing committees are to report the work of their committee in a written report to the full Board as an information item. This report can be approved or draft minutes from the meeting. 

The following protocols are listed in the policy “for obtaining reports from the Office of the School Superintendent, handling information received from the Office of the School Board Attorney, responding to public comments during public meetings, interacting with employees of Suffolk Public Schools and visiting property of Suffolk Public Schools”:  

• A Board member can not request that a report be generated by the Office of the School Superintendent that will require considerable work or time, unless a majority of the Board votes to require the report be generated. Considerable work or time means research requiring more than 60 minutes to generate as determined by the Superintendent.
• Information received by a Board member from the Board attorney labeled “Attorney Client Communication Privilege,” “Attorney Work Product Confidential,” or “Confidential Communication” must not be shared with third parties, unless authorized by the Board.
• Board members are to listen to public comment and public hearing presentations, but will not comment, deliberate, or take action on them during the public comment time. However, at the conclusion of any public meeting, with the concurrence of the Chair, a Board member can request the Superintendent investigate any comments that pertain to the operations of SPS that were mentioned during the public comments and report back at a later meeting. 
• Individual Board members are not to communicate with any SPS employee for the purpose of directing, managing, or evaluating an employee’s work performance or job responsibilities.
• Board members are encouraged to visit schools. However, before visiting, they must notify the Superintendent and may not visit schools during standardized testing. 
• Board members may volunteer at schools, but must complete the SPS volunteer connect application in order to become a school volunteer.

The policy stipulates that if the Chair receives a claim about any Board member violating any norms or protocols and the claim is valid, the Chair may issue a letter of warning to the alleged Board member in violation.

The Board member then has five business days to appeal the Chair’s decision to the full Board, and to request review by the Board in either an open or closed meeting.

For any subsequent offenses occurring within 12 months of the first offense, the Board member will be issued a formal notice of the alleged violation(s) and granted an opportunity to respond in a closed meeting. If the charges are found, the consequences will be a letter of warning for the second offense, a public censure at a public meeting for the third offense, and a removal from standing committees for a fourth offense. 

All Board hearings regarding discipline of a member will take place in a closed meeting, unless at least three members vote to do it during a public meeting.