When District 150 board members reconvene next month, they’ll face an issue that hits close to home for some -- literally.
A board committee last week discussed ways to address and prevent cases of nepotism, or favoritism granted to family members.
Board Vice President Rick Cloyd drafted a policy that would forbid staffing situations where relatives, spouses or even roommates engage in a supervisor-subordinate role. Cloyd says the topic poses the potential for "some difficult discussion," as family ties exist within district staff and administration.
“This is not a quick reaction to any one thing, but frankly, it’s one of the things I believe has been missing in our policy for a long time, and I see a need to get it done promptly,” Cloyd said.
Cloyd says the proposed policy would not be retroactive. It would require existing non-compliant cases of family members supervising relatives to be addressed and revised before the upcoming school year.
“We owe it to the public and our employees to do the right thing,” Cloyd said.
Board member Ernestine Jackson says it might not be such an easy policy to implement in a district as large as 150.
“It’s difficult, if not impossible, to prevent situations where relatives are working together in the district,” Jackson said.
She says, hiring relatives within the district doesn’t pose a problem as long as it’s not a supervisor-employee relationship. Jackson’s son is a custodian at Von Steuben, but she says that's just one of many similar situations in the district.
"What we don't want to do is have a situation where a person's decision or performance is compromised by an emotional entanglement," Cloyd said.
A first draft of the policy addressing nepotism went out to board members last week. The board reconvenes on January 11th.