School Board to consider policy changes
By Joey Pitchford
Published in News on February 4, 2017 11:50 PM
The Wayne County Board of Education will tackle a long list of policy changes and updates at its meeting Monday at 3 p.m., including changes to teacher dress code and tuition for out-of-district students.
The policies, of which there are nearly 40, came before the board for a first reading at their Jan. 12 meeting. The board then reconvened for a work session Jan. 30, where they discussed specific changes and additions they wanted to see made to some policies.
On the topic of dress code, the new policy would allow for female teachers to wear sleeveless dresses, as long as they fit "firm and close" to the armpit as to hide any undergarments.
District 1 representative Chris West said during the January work session that the policy would need to be monitored to make sure the garments were properly fitted. He also said that another provision restricting denim materials be relaxed to allow principals to offer "jean days" to teachers as incentives for hard work.
The board will also vote on a new Bring Your Own Device policy, which would allow students to bring electronic devices such as smartphones and tablets to class for use in educational activities.
The policy is part of a district-wide plan to modernize instructional practices through technology. David Lewis, assistant superintendent for accountability/information technology, said in January that allowing students to bring their own devices would help make sure every student has access to digital learning tools.
The district is currently working toward being able to supply devices to students who do not have access to them.
Another policy coming before the board deals with tuition charged to students who attend WCPS schools but live outside the county.
The district does not currently charge any such tuition, but some surrounding counties do. Johnston County, for example, charges the parents of out-of-district students nearly $2,000 to send their children to school there.
District 4 representative Jennifer Strickland said at the work session that having out-of-county students take up space in an already overcrowded system without paying tuition is troubling.
The board must first decide whether or not to begin charging those students at all. They would then need to set a tuition rate by the first of August.
The entire agenda is available online under the meetings tab at www.boarddocs.com/nc/wcpsnc/Board.nsf/Public#. The meeting will take place in the executive board room of the WCPS main office at 2001 Royall Ave. The public section of the meeting will begin at approximately 5 p.m.