By Ken Jackson
Staff Writer

The Osceola County School Board will vote on a series of proposed policy changes at its next meeting on Jan. 29.

At its meeting on Tuesday, the first one of 2013, the board discussed some of the proposed changes, namely ones concerning nepotism in the district’s hiring practices and political campaigning on school campuses. District 5’s Tom Long was the most vocal against the proposed changes.

One change would strike policy 6.121, which states in part that no board member may recommend “the employment of his or her close relative or family member for employment in the School District.”

It was put in place locally to close a loophole that exempts school boards from a general barring of nepotism by government boards. Long said removing this policy that explicitly bans nepotism in Osceola County, which was put into policy less than two years ago and approved by a super majority (four-fifths of the board), would remove a layer of transparency, accountability and credibility for the board.

“This board needs to be accountable to ourselves and to the public,” he said. “My concern is not having the ability to remove those with low moral character or who don’t do a good job, not with removing those grandfathered in who are doing a good job. You talk to educators on the subject of nepotism and it’s greeting with a nod and a wink. It smack of bad policy.”

But other board members spoke in support of striking the local policy. Board Member Kelvin Soto noted that in many families, public education runs throughout it.

“The exemption that was carved by the state is there for a purpose,” he said. “It serves a real and legislative impact.”

Board Member Tim Weisheyer said that voting to repeal the policy is not a vote in favor of nepotism.

“This policy is above and beyond what we need,” he said. “I have enough faith in Melba (Luciano, school superintendent) that if one of us went to her and said, ‘You should hire my wife or my kid,’ she would politely tell us, ‘No.’”

School Board Attorney Larry Brown said a standard doesn’t need to be put in place to preclude the board’s family to teach or hold a similar position in the school system.

“While the state allows local government to put in place a higher level of ethics than mandated by the state, this policy really applies to senior management,” he said.

Staff also recommending eliminating much of the language in policy 6.34, which largely prohibits large campaign signs and political rallies on school campuses.

Again, Long lobbied to keep the language in place, saying politicking has no business on school grounds.

“Running for political office is a war, and I don’t think we need to bring that into our schools,” he said.

Long referenced Board Chairman Jay Wheeler and his campaign signs on campus at Osceola and Celebration high schools, and interjecting his campaign materials at a Teach-In, during his 2010 re-election bid.

“We had rules in place to stop those activities, yet they weren’t abided by,” Long said. “We need to police ourselves.”

Staff proposed that language be added to Policy 9.3 to allow nonpartisan political activity “such as, but not limited to, a community issues forum.

“School board races are nonpartisan, aren’t they?” Long asked rhetorically.

Wheeler said there are some instances where campaigning on campuses should be allowed.

“I think it should be OK for a candidate to buy, say, buy a booster tent at a football game,” he said. “As long as they want to pay the price of admission for it and can afford it, why stop them?”

Apryle Jackson, president of the Osceola County Education Association, said exposing students to the political system can be beneficial.

“Right now, we can’t even have a healthy school board debate on campus,” she said. “We have high school seniors who will be voting for the first time and that could be something that shapes them down the road.”

Jackson noted that members of Michelle Obama’s and Mitt Romney’s teams inquired about holding events on campus during the last election cycle, but had to be turned away because of current district rules.

Wheeler said he directed staff to look at policies put in place during the last few years, during a time of considerable strife on the School Board dais.

“I told (Director of Student Success and Program Accountability) John Boyd we have to erase the ‘Cindy’ years,” he said, referring to former board member Cindy Hartig, who butted heads with Wheeler often before losing her seat to Weisheyer in the August primary election.

“We have 6,700 employees who need to know that her influence is not coming back. It is sad to see we still have people on this board who blindly supported her for two years.”

Also at Tuesday’s meeting, Energy Management Directors Jeff Peters and Brian Richards presented an update on the district’s energy conservation system. Now in its third year, new initiatives have made energy usage costs come in $10 million below budget.

They said the main drivers of the plan were audits, the alignment of HVAC schedules, and staff and student education, and that the savings came through “changing habits” rather than purchasing new equipment, all while maintaining classroom comfort.