Board member urges advance notice of Policy Review Committee items after class-rank concern
Summary
At an administrative workshop, board member Cammy Melnick told colleagues PRC advanced a class-rank matter without full-board notice and asked that future Policy Review Committee agendas be circulated in advance so members can respond to constituent inquiries. Legal counsel read Bylaw 1-31 and staff described current practice of routing policies through PRC.
Kathleen Brown, chair of the Virginia Beach School Board, heard calls from a board member for stronger communication about Policy Review Committee business at the administrative workshop.
Cammy Melnick raised community emails about class rank and said the Policy Review Committee (PRC) had taken up an item that, in her view, should have been brought first to the full board. "PRC should have never gotten that before it came to the board first," Melnick said, asking that the full board receive PRC agendas in advance so members can be informed when constituents raise concerns.
Mrs. Linetti read the opening paragraphs of Bylaw 1-31 to explain the division's policy-formation process and emphasized that "the school board of the city of Virginia Beach ... is the legislative body of the school division" and that "the power to enact policy cannot be delegated to an employee or an agency." Legal and staff presenters clarified that, in practice, policy proposals commonly come through the superintendent or a committee such as PRC, but final action remains the responsibility of the full school board.
Board members discussed past practice and changes since the creation of PRC; Melnick and others said the board should be aware of standing-committee agendas and asked staff and counsel to provide a consistent interpretation of the relevant bylaws. Chair Brown asked Mrs. Linetti to review the bylaw and share her interpretation with the full board so any procedural disagreements could be minimized going forward.
The clerk and staff noted that a committee page now posts agendas and video recordings and agreed to circulate PRC and standing-committee agendas directly to full-board members. The exchange ended with a request that legal advice and consistent application of procedure guide future PRC work.
The board then moved on to other agenda items.
