Board adopts periodic policy‑review approach; NEOLA updates to be rolled out in sections

The Flagler County School Board directed staff to move forward with a staged roll‑out of policy updates from the district’s vendor, NEOLA, and agreed on a periodic policy‑review expectation. Staff and consultants said the most efficient path is to present the policy sections in chunks — the board asked that administrative (1000s), instructional (3000s) and support (4000s) sections come first — and to include a “last reviewed” date on each adopted policy.

Multiple board members said the district’s historic practice left some policies unreviewed for many years and asked for a lightweight recurring review cadence. The workshop produced a consensus for “periodic” review with a working benchmark of every three years (board members discussed two‑ and three‑year alternatives). The board also asked staff to develop a practical procedure — for example, dividing the manual so reasonable chunks are reviewed over the review period — rather than requiring a single full overhaul.

Staff committed to: (1) bringing NEOLA‑based draft policies to the board in batches; (2) marking each policy with a review date and a cover memo explaining why each change is proposed; and (3) maintaining an archive of prior policy versions. The board emphasized that although NEOLA will propose updates, the board retains final adoption authority.

Separately the board reviewed a short administrative policy about collective bargaining. Members retained language clarifying that contract provisions cannot be written to bar the district from implementing interventions, reporting and other operational items listed in the policy; staff will ensure the clause and any references are cited and brought forward for the formal policy record.

The board asked staff to return the first batch of cleaned drafts and a proposed schedule for completing the manual revision over the agreed review window.