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Isle of Wight County’s School Board has a policy or bylaw for nearly every eventuality, which as of Nov. 14 now includes written procedures on how and when its more than 400 policies are to be updated following the division’s June exit from the Virginia School Boards Association.

In past school years, the VSBA would provide IWCS with model policy language and would advise if and when a particular policy needed updates to comply with a change in state or federal law.

In August, a two-member committee consisting of School Board Vice Chairman Mark Wooster and member John Collick unveiled a first draft of procedures to replace the VSBA’s role in vetting policy updates.

Three months later, the School Board voted unanimously to codify the committee’s role.

Per language now added to the School Board’s bylaws, the IWCS Policy COmmittee is to identify policies needing review and is to use the following process to do so:

• Any member of the School Board can recommend a policy for review by notifying members of the Policy Committee.
• Policies are to be sent to the committee at least 60 calendar days prior to the policy being placed on the full School Board’s agenda for a first read.
• The committee is to send the policy to the superintendent for staff feedback, which is to be provided within 10 work days.
• Committee members are to independently review the division staff’s feedback and draft potential revisions, then reconvene as a committee and come to a consensus on language for the initial draft that will be presented to the full School Board.
• Prior to the policy’s placement on an upcoming School Board meeting for first read, the committee is to send each board member a copy and receive feedback within 10 work days.

“These steps do not preclude the superintendent or his designees from placing policy revisions on the board meeting agenda as a result of changes in legislation, division position titles, and procedural changes in IWcS or due to minor editing,” the adopted bylaws now state.

At the request of Wooster and board member Brandi Perkins, the board voted to also add to the adopted verbiage that “board members shall not be precluded from placing policies or policy revision on the agenda for review or first read.”