Racine Unified board hears plan to update administrative regulations using Neola service

At the Racine Unified School District work session on Sept. 8, 2025, Superintendent Mister Gajewski announced the district has engaged Neola to review and update the district’s administrative regulations and procedures so they conform to current law and consistent practices. Neola associate Richard Zimman told the board the firm reviews roughly 450 policy templates and about 350 administrative guidelines and will perform thorough reviews twice a year. The district will use Neola’s customizable templates and the BoardDocs platform to draft, publish and make proposed administrative regulations searchable for staff and the public. “If you adopt one of the options that Neola provides … Neola will provide a free legal defense for you,” Richard Zimman said, summarizing the firm’s warranty for language it supplies and the legal review process. Board members asked how the administrative regulations relate to the board’s coherent governance policies. Superintendent Mister Gajewski said the two are separate: board policy establishes governance and is the board’s responsibility, while administrative regulations are the superintendent’s tools for running the district. “This isn’t going to choose curriculum,” Gajewski said. “It is the user’s manual for how we go about doing business in this district.” Board member Mister O'Connell asked where the draft administrative regulations could be found; district staff member Emily told the board the current admin regs are posted on rusd.org under Board of Education > Administrative Regulations and that drafts will be available for board review on a separate BoardDocs draft site while they are in development. Board members were told the initial phase is the most time-intensive and the intent is to have the bulk of the updates in place by the next school year, with lighter, routine updates thereafter. The discussion noted practical details Neola provided: most Wisconsin districts using Neola have customized manuals; Neola works with state and federal law firms to align policies with legal requirements; and many districts find about 50 policies need updating after a review because of court decisions, legislative changes or past misinterpretations. The district expects to group administrative regulations into manageable batches for board review rather than presenting hundreds of drafts at once. No formal board action was taken; staff will continue drafting and will route draft administrative regulations through the district’s 30-day public review process before bringing final drafts to the board for approval.