School board's nepotism policy could be final in February
The Beaufort County school board's nepotism policy will be up for final approval at its next board meeting Feb. 2.
The board voted 6-4 to approve the second reading of the draft without any changes Tuesday night, with Evva Anderson, Joseph Dunkle, JoAnn Orischak and Michael Rivers opposing. The policy must receive one more vote.
At the last meeting Jan. 5, the board reinstated wording meant to prevent conflicts of interest in the awarding of contracts. On Tuesday, Anderson reiterated that she does not understand the provision and would like the board to simplify the language, but made no motion to do so.
She did seek to clear up one part of that rule that had been up for interpretation -- the phrase "executive leadership."
As the rule reads, the superintendent must determine if a conflict of interest when a family members of the executive leadership is offered employment with a current contractor or construction vendor, or a company that has submitted a bid offer to the district.
Anderson asked the board to consider defining executive leadership as any position above the director level -- namely, the district's five senior officers -- following a suggestion from superintendent Jeff Moss.
However, Anderson's suggestion would have been an amendment to a standing motion and board member Bill Payne declined to second the change.
Board attorney Drew Davis urged the group to come to a concensus next month.
"My advice to the board is before you pass it at the final reading, there needs to be some clarity as to what that means," he said.
Under the draft, family members are prohibited from directly supervising each other or working in the same school or administrative unit without prior approval of the superintendent.
Family members are also prohibited from working in the same administrative unit or school building or under the same immediate supervisor without prior approval from the superintendent.
The superintendent does not need to notify the board when he or she grants an exception.
The board decided to create a policy on conflicts of interest in September following the controversial hiring of Moss' wife at the start of the school year. Jeff Moss had also made changes to the district's nepotism rule around the same time his wife applied to a director-level, $90,0000 job.
The board maintains he followed the procedures in place by notifying the board when recommending Darlene Moss' hire.
However, the board subsequently chose to remove the issue of nepotism from the superintendent's purview.
Follow reporter Rebecca Lurye on Twitter at twitter.com/IPBG_Rebecca.
Related content:
- Beaufort County school board continues debate on nepotism, January 5, 2016
- Dissent marks school board's first nepotism talk, November 17, 2016
This story was originally published January 20, 2016 at 10:22 AM with the headline "School board's nepotism policy could be final in February."