The Wake County Board of Education spent the opening portion of its work session revising language for a new employee ombudsman policy and asked board counsel for legal guidance on what the ombuds may observe or participate in.

Board members and staff debated whether the ombuds — intended to be an impartial, independent reviewer for staff complaints — should be allowed to observe or serve on school system committees. Staff presented a draft that stresses the ombuds "shall function independently from control, limitations, influence, or interference by any board member, administrator, or school system employee." The draft also removed earlier language that would have allowed the ombuds position to be filled by one or more school system employees or independent contractors of the board.

Why it matters: The board is trying to balance two priorities: protecting the ombuds' impartiality while giving that position enough access to meetings and information to identify recurring problems and offer constructive recommendations. Several board members said observation of committee meetings helps the ombuds understand context and trends; others cautioned that serving in an official committee role could compromise neutrality.

What the board did: Members agreed in principle to remove a clause that had limited committee service to instances with prior approval of the board chair and instead to keep a clear prohibition on the ombuds "serving" on committees. They asked staff to add language explicitly allowing observation — to the extent permitted by law and board policy — and to bring the revised wording to Attorney Ramey for legal review before the policy returns to the board for action.

Funding and oversight: Staff clarified that the superintendent or designee would oversee ombuds payments for budgetary purposes and may make recommendations on funding, while the board would retain discretion to set the final level of resources. The board discussed whether the policy could be advanced to second reading so the position could begin work and produce baseline data for future evaluation.

Next steps: Staff said they will clean up the draft, incorporate agreed edits (including a sentence authorizing the ombuds "to observe any school system committees or task forces, to the extent permitted by law and board policy"), obtain counsel guidance on the limits of participation versus observation, and return the item for board action. No formal vote to adopt the policy was taken during this work session.

Attribution: Quotes and attributions in this article come from board members and staff who spoke during the discussion (see speakers list).

Ending: The board expects to receive legal clarification from counsel and a cleaned-up draft from staff before placing the policy on an action agenda.