Stoughton board adopts wording change to Policy 1210 to clarify reporting timeframe

The Stoughton Area School District Board of Education approved an amendment to Policy 1210 that replaces the word "immediately" with "in a timely fashion" in the paragraph governing reporting of administrative matters.

Members of the governance work group recommended the change after reviewing legal counsel guidance; the work group said the word "immediately" could be read as an unrealistic expectation that might penalize a board member who was temporarily unavailable (for example, out of town). "We felt that immediately meant like within 24 hours or what have you," a work group member said, and the change was proposed to retain urgency while avoiding unfair consequences.

Because this is a policy change, the board conducted a roll-call vote. The clerk recorded the following votes in favor: Mr. Jeffrey Leverage, Miss Allison Sorg, Miss Croy, Mr. Jim Moser, Dr. Sharon Milin Bartlett, Miss Don Garcia and President Joe Patterson. The motion passed.

The board returned the revised policy to the governance work group for any administrative follow-up; no additional policy text changes were reported at the meeting.