FLASH: More Concerning March 6, 2012 Board of Education Meeting: If the Chairman and/or Superintendent prepared the agenda, did he/they cause the board to violate its own policy by eliminating the invocation?
The Board expects all students and personnel employed by Davie County Schools (DCS) to adhere to the policies enacted by the board. Under some circumstances, there are severe consequences for the failure to follow policies approved by the Board.
Please look at DCS Policy Code 2330 “Board Meeting Agenda:” http://bit.ly/wSLnlA.
The superintendent as secretary to the Board will prepare the agenda for each board meeting.
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| The usual, but not required order of items addressed in the agenda for regular Board meetings should be as follows: |
1. Call to order
2. Invocation
I do not know whether “prepare” refers to making decisions as to the content of a board meeting or just the act of assembling and distributing the content provided by others. It has been my understanding the content of board meetings is dictated by the chairman and superintendent and may also include matters appropriately raised by board members. It would appear that an invocation is a required part of each meeting and only the placement of the invocation on the agenda is discretionary.
On this occasion, there will be no cover for the people responsible for omitting the invocation to say they followed the advice of the board’s attorney. The board’s attorney would not have advised the chairman, Terry Renegar, and the superintendent not to discuss the matter with other board members; not to include the issue for discussion at the March 6th board meeting; not to have a moment of silence; and not to have a non-sectarian prayer. Someone needs to “step up” and take responsibility for eliminating the invocation and not publicly discussing the invocation issue at the March 6th meeting.
The residents of Davie County may justifiably feel that the board should follow board policies just like students and employees of DCS are required to follow board policies. Either follow the policy or change the policy, but don’t ignore the policy. The unfortunate handling of this matter requires an explanation by Terry Renegar or the superintendent.
I will publish such an explanation in its entirety.
