Board follows up on flyer, ethics policies

ALBANY, Ga. — While the issue regarding family members is clear, the question is what to do if a board member has a connection outside of his or her family tree.

This is the issue the Dougherty County School Board is faced with in establishing its ethics policy, which was discussed at its work session Wednesday afternoon.

The discussion of the policy at the meeting was a follow-up of the board’s Oct. 27 work session. Per instructions from the state, the School Board is required to have a policy in place by New Year’s Day. The is expected to vote on a policy at its Dec. 13 meeting.

In the meantime, Board Attorney Tommy Coleman will be making another round of revisions — specifically to the section on nepotism, which some of the board members feel is too broad the way it is currently written.

“I still feel in favor of stronger language,” said Board Chairman David Maschke. “I don’t think the board ethics policy should be lower than that of the staff. The School Board should be setting an example to the system.

“Integrity is critical.”

Coleman said that, by law, board members would be unable to vote on making an appointment involving a family member or someone else from which they would have financial gain. For the Dougherty board, a family member will likely be defined as a spouse, in-law or a blood relative that is a second cousin or closer.

For associations beyond that, the policy expected to come before the board in December will likely indicate that a member is expected to disclose any relationship with an applicant in question or recuse himself or herself.

“We want to be fair to everybody,” Coleman said. “This is a small community, so it’s hard not to know somebody. We have to find the right marriage to make sure it is fair.”

A model sent from the Georgia School Boards Association is what Dougherty’s policy is being based on. Whatever is adopted is supposed to be equal to or stronger than the model, not weaker.

The School Board also followed up on the system’s flyer policy that Public Information Officer R.D. Harter was asked to revise at the last work session. The policy he presented Wednesday was the same as the one currently in place with the exception of one entry, which read:

“Non-profit, non-school agencies seeking distribution of information related to activities that are recreational or educational in nature must obtain prior board organizational approval before requesting literature distribution. Approved organizations must show that the value of activities related to stated costs must be deemed not-for-profit in nature.”

Harter also added that he intended to create a form that agency representatives would have to fill out in order for the board to have a clear picture of what their intent is in distributing such material in the schools. The board opted to wait until the form could be formatted and brought forward before approving the revised policy.

In other news, Coleman also said the School Board is expected to participate in disciplinary hearing for one of the system’s teachers in the Administration Building on Pine Avenue today at 10:30 a.m. It is expected to be an open meeting.