Onslow County Schools policy committee reviews multiple policy edits, clarifies nutrition, transportation and staff rules
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Summary
At a Policy Committee meeting, Onslow County Schools staff reviewed proposed edits to several district policies — including school nutrition, bus idling/resource conservation, student assignment to buses, surplus property consolidation, instructional materials, 48-hour reporting for arrests/charges, and employee social media — and answered clarifying questions; the committee approved the agenda and minutes and adjourned.
Onslow County Schools Policy Committee members reviewed staff-recommended edits to a slate of district policies and sought clarifications on implementation and language ahead of taking the items to the board.
Katie (staff presenter) told the committee the corrections address inconsistencies between previously posted language and current district practice and are intended to be ready for the first board meeting of the new year. "When we work with policies, it's a bit of a dance," she said, noting the packet provided to the committee contained the proposed edits.
The packet covered multiple areas. On school nutrition (policy 6220), staff recommended removing a parenthetical phrase in A.1. A board member raised a question about whether the policy should use a narrower or broader nondiscrimination term; Katie replied that state and federal law treat a broader protected-class term as encompassing examples such as pregnancy, childbirth, sexual orientation and gender identity and that boards "do it differently," but the district must remain concurrent with the law.
On timing and federal compliance, staff said the district has adopted a practice that defines the service window for school nutrition from 12:01 a.m. until 30 minutes after the end of the school day; that timing avoids applying the federal "Smart Snacks" competitive-food restrictions to vending and other sales that occur after the instructional day. Bernie Gardner, chief of operations, clarified that cafeteria food service itself ends at the last lunch period and that vending machines are unplugged during the school day.
Staff also proposed repealing policy 6306 (school bus idling) and moving its language into policy 6530 (resource conservation). Katie said the consolidated policy is more comprehensive; she highlighted new or clarified provisions that buses "shall not idle longer than five minutes," that drivers must remain in the seat while the bus runs, and that buses should not idle while loading or unloading on school grounds except when a student's special needs require it.
Transportation language in policy 6322 was discussed as well: Katie explained the district's 1.5-mile threshold for bus eligibility remains in place — students who live within 1.5 miles generally do not receive transportation, while those living farther do, whether assigned to a school or admitted to a magnet program.
Instructional materials (policy 6525) will be edited to correct wording that mischaracterized early-college practices. Katie said some early-college courses require textbooks parents may be asked to provide, but assistance is available to families who cannot pay; Mr. Holloman (referenced by staff) had asked that the misleading sentence be removed.
The committee reviewed a consolidation of surplus-property language so the policy can be found under a combined numbering scheme (6560/9410) without content changes. Staff also proposed aligning the 7000-series human-resources policies so that employees report being charged with or arrested for a crime to human resources as soon as possible and no later than 48 hours (replacing the previous five-day timeframe), with CJ Gurenik, chief of human resources and student services, noting the need for consistent language across related policies.
On employee social media (policy 7335), Katie and others discussed implementation and training: staff proposed adding a training component and possibly a regulation or administrative guidance to clarify scenarios such as reposting district photos, using personal pages versus official district accounts, and ensuring parental permission when posting images of minors. "I think that's perfectly appropriate," Gurenik said of the proposed soft implementation followed by orientation-level training at the start of the next year.
The committee did not record roll-call vote tallies on policy content in the transcript; it completed routine procedural actions on the meeting itself. Early in the meeting members moved to approve the agenda and the minutes of 11/18/2025; both motions were seconded and the chair announced the agenda and minutes approved. With no further substantive questions, a motion to adjourn was made, seconded and carried. Katie closed with seasonal greetings.
Next steps: staff will make the technical and substantive edits discussed and prepare the revised policies for board consideration at the upcoming board meeting.