At the Jan. 7 Clark County School District work session trustees began a multi-meeting review of 12 draft governance policies intended to replace or update existing board rules.

Board president Bustamante Adams said the drafts borrow language from the Washoe County balanced-governance model and reflect months of trustee, staff and counsel work. Board liaison Joe Caruso and superintendent Joan Ebert described the public posting of draft policies and the planned notice-of-intent process that will allow trustees and the public further review before any votes.

A central point of debate was whether trustees should adopt a separate code of conduct or "pledge" obligating members to follow the board's governance policies in addition to the statutory oath of office. Dr. Victor Alsbury, the consultants' balanced-governance adviser, recommended including a succinct code-of-conduct statement in the board handbook rather than making the pledge a prescriptive policy item, saying it helps set shared expectations without creating unnecessary legal friction. "Boards that adopt a succinct code of conduct find it helps the team agree on how they will operate," Dr. Alsbury said.

Legal counsel Teddy Parker cautioned that some draft social-media language could be "too nebulous" and risk First Amendment challenges; he said the board's internal remedies for speech are limited (formal censure is the most severe internal option). Trustees concerned about harassment and district policy conflicts urged firm standards; Trustee Biasati asked whether broadly phrased prohibitions would improperly chill speech. "We all have our First Amendment rights," Parker reminded the board, noting that adopting self-imposed standards is permissible but enforcement options are constrained.

Trustees also discussed an explicit protocol for individual data requests to district staff: under the draft, the superintendent may decline resource-intensive or inappropriate requests, notify the board president, and the requesting trustee can place the issue on a public board agenda if they object to the denial. Dr. Alsbury described a multi-step procedure designed to balance individual oversight needs with staff capacity.

Audit-related drafts prompted discussion about internal and external oversight. CCSD chief financial officer Justin Dayhoff noted the district already operates an internal audit department (a director, 10 auditors and interns) that presents annually to the audit committee; trustees asked to preserve strong oversight while avoiding duplication. Trustee Stevens recommended reinstating a trustee liaison role for the audit committee to improve communication and timeliness of staff responses.

Several trustees urged placing operational details (committee bylaws, pledge text, detailed procedures) in a handbook or appendices rather than hard-coding them into the policy text, both to avoid frequent policy-level edits and to make enforcement expectations clearer. The board scheduled further review of an additional set of policies at the next meeting cycle and will circulate suggested grammar and minor edits via the board office before notice-of-intent publication.