The Wake County school board has passed a policy to let students leave school with an excused absence for up to one hour a week for religious instruction.
The policy complies with a new law passed as part of the state budget. The Christian organization LifeWise Academy lobbied for laws like this in multiple states. The national program partners with local churches to transport students away from school for Bible study. LifeWise Academy's website says it plans to open chapters in Wake County soon.
The Wake school board opted for the minimum amount of excused time under law, and clarified in their policy that the one hour away includes any transportation time. Board member Sam Hershey proposed that revision.
"That is for clarity, so we don't want anyone to interpret this as they can drive 15 minutes somewhere, have that one hour, and then drive 15 minutes back, and that's okay," Hershey said.
Parents who criticized the policy also called for the board to require anyone in the religious program to have a background check. District staff said WCPSS' practice is to not require background checks for individuals who are authorized by name by a parent to pick up their child. The district does conduct background checks for anyone who volunteers in schools.
Board member Lynn Edmonds voted for the policy, but called it "bad legislation."
"Our charge is to educate students, and we cannot do that if students are not in school," Edmonds said. "To say that we need to address absenteeism, which the state is working on, and then allow students to miss part of the school day is ridiculous."
Board member Jennifer Job cast the lone nay vote, saying she believes it goes against the U.S. Constitution and the "mission of (the) district."
New policy for book challenges
The Wake County school board also approved a policy Wednesday to create a new process for reviewing book challenges.
A provision in the state budget outlined new requirements for schools statewide. The book challenges may be submitted by any resident of the same county as a school district. The school board's attorney said challengers could prove their residency by providing an ID or piece of mail.
Under Wake's new policy, a 12-member committee of educators, parents, and principals will meet virtually once a week to review any challenges. The law requires a hearing within two weeks of a challenge being received, and two more weeks for a response.
The board passed the policy to comply with the law. Board member Lynn Edmonds again voted for it, but in protest, saying the law undermines educators' professionalism.
"The directives in this state mandate require a lot of extra time of educators to respond to the whims of random critics, not just parents or guardians of students," Edmonds said. "We need to trust our educators and respect their time."
Board member Cheryl Caulfield voted against it, after asking for more flexibility for how parents identify books, and asking whether Wake's policy should include all library books. District staff said this policy does not include library books unless they are used for instruction, but the district has another policy that allows parents to select which library books their child cannot check out.
Is the WCPSS "central office" bloated? These third-party studies say it's understaffed, and in some departments underpaid
The Wake school board's budget and finance committee also received an update Tuesday on organizational and compensation studies conducted by outside consultants.
The organizational study examined staffing levels among all central services staff. It included many positions who work directly in schools, such as maintenance workers, custodial managers, and special education service providers.
It found understaffing in: transportation, maintenance, special education, human resources, communication, and area superintendents, among other departments.
"I mean, this should open some eyes, for hopefully not just for our residents of Wake County, but the state as well," said committee member Sam Hershey.
The organizational study by third party consultant, Improve, LLC compared WCPSS to other similarly sized school districts.
A second compensation study found Wake County Public Schools struggles to offer competitive pay for certain positions that are hard to recruit. Those include mechanics, skilled tradespeople, school principals, and finance staff. The compensation study was by MGT, LLC and it compared the district to other school districts, Wake County Government employees, and data from Salary.com.
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