Wake County's school board has never had a formal way to discipline one of its own — no process for a reprimand, no path to censure, nothing beyond informal pressure from colleagues. That's set to change Tuesday night, when the board takes its first vote on a revised ethics policy designed to give it real teeth for the first time.
The current ethics policy simply doesn't have a way to censure board members or hold them accountable, according to a report from WRAL. The board is scheduled to hold its first vote on the policy changes Tuesday night, and members want the new rules in place before new board members are seated at the first meeting in December, the station reports.
Vice Chairman Sam Hershey said he worked with Chairman Tyler Swanson and Board Attorney Neal Ramey to draft the revision after he noticed the ethics policy lacked the kind of accountability measures found in other board policies, per the same report. Hershey said the actual ethical standards aren't changing — they remain consistent with state statute, he said. What's new is the process for enforcing them.
How a Complaint Would Move Through the Process
Under the proposal, a board member who believes a colleague violated the ethics policy would first try to resolve it informally, one-on-one. If that fails, the board chair or vice chair could step in to attempt informal resolution, and from there could consult the board attorney about more formal action — including a reprimand or censure, the station's report notes.
Complaints alleging violations would be submitted to the board chair, or to the vice chair if the complaint is against the chair, according to the News & Observer. If the board determines a violation occurred, it may take appropriate action, including a verbal or written reprimand or censure, the newspaper reports. Any board member accused of a violation would get at least 15 days' written notice of the potential action and the reasoning behind it, with a chance to respond in writing before anything is decided.
A Disputed Detail: Open Session or Closed?
The two outlets covering the policy differ on exactly how a censure vote itself would be handled. WRAL reports that discussion of a censure would happen in open public session unless confidential information is involved, but that the vote would take place in closed session. The News & Observer, however, reports that any action to censure a board member would occur in open session and would require a two-thirds vote of the members present. Neither account has been reconciled publicly as of this writing.
The proposed policy also draws a hard line around what individual board members can and cannot do. It states that a board member shall not independently direct, supervise, discipline, or investigate school system employees — reinforcing that the board oversees the superintendent, who in turn oversees the rest of the staff, per WRAL's reporting. If a board member receives a complaint about a specific employee, the policy requires them to refer that concern to the appropriate supervisor rather than handle it themselves.
A Board Member's Frustration With the Limits of the Job
Board member Toshiba Rice raised concerns last quarter about the gap between what constituents expect from board members and what the job actually allows them to do. People come to board members when they think there's nowhere else to go, believing board members hold power, Rice said, according to WRAL's report. She said she has to remind people where power actually resides, adding that the superintendent already has a lot to handle on his own.
Superintendent Robert Taylor told Rice he's open to conversations about evaluating personnel and has shared with board members how he evaluates them, per the same report. Chairman Swanson, for his part, said the district wants its grievance policy to be clear for families alleging that an employee violated board policy as it relates to their student.
Not the First Time Wake Has Weighed This
Wake's school board actually considered a similar accountability measure back in 2013, but the board ultimately didn't move ahead with those changes then, the News & Observer notes. This time, the push comes amid a wider pattern across North Carolina school districts. Asheville City Schools recently adopted its own censure policy, Policy 2118, though the debate there wasn't without friction — one board member warned the language could be overbroad and chill dissent, while supporters countered that censure would only follow an actual violation of law or policy, according to CitizenPortal.ai.
Other districts have already put censure processes to use, with mixed outcomes. In Johnston County, board member Ronald Johnson was censured by colleagues in 2022 for trying to transfer the children of an adversary and for inappropriately texting sexual comments about a female school employee, the News & Observer reports. Johnson was later removed from the board entirely by a judge in 2025 after being convicted of extortion and obstruction of justice. More recently, the New Hanover County Board of Education censured member David Perry in a 6-1 vote after he left a board meeting shortly after it began in September, according to Port City Daily. That censure also pulled Perry off his committee assignments, including legislative and curriculum work, until a new board was sworn in that December.
Wake's school board has also been tending to other governance policies this year, updating rules related to board training and special-called meetings, per WRAL's report. Whatever the board decides Tuesday won't be final on its own — like most policy changes, this one requires approval at two separate meetings unless the board votes to skip the second reading.
