The Rapid City Board of Education is crafting a policy that requires board members to report to superintendent Peter Wharton each time a media representative contacts them.

"It's not that we did things wrong before, but that we want to do things right," board president Sheryl Kirkeby said at a study session this month.

Wharton, who serves at the pleasure of the board, said there have been instances in the past when the media ran stories that he said were not complete, alluding to the recent budget crisis when local media outlets, including the Journal, ran stories before the district held a news conference.

"It's not accurate, not healthy, and it reflects negatively on us," Wharton said. "The media has a job to do, and we want to get complete, accurate information out."

With assistance from director of staff development Susie Roth, the board worked on a policy earlier this month that would include Wharton continuing to give board members advance notice if there is an issue they might be called about.

In turn, board members would call Wharton when they received a call or request for information from the media.

"If you get a call from the media, please let Dr. Wharton know," Kirkeby said.

The purpose of the policy is not to stifle the board members from talking but to "manage the release of accurate information," he said. "It's not a permission to talk. It's just a courtesy to keep communication open."

As part of the policy, which has not been voted on yet, violations would result in a call from the board president and discussion of the violation in executive session.

The board is only allowed to talk about a few items in executive session, including personnel and legal issues, and board members said they could talk about media contact violations in executive session because it falls under personnel issues.

During the same meeting, the board talked about whether board members should be advocating personal platforms during media interviews.

Kirkeby said board members should feel comfortable sharing personal opinions, but they should support whatever the majority decision is on specific issues.

"Even if you're at odds with the rest of the board," she said.

But board member Wes Storm said board members are elected officials and should be allowed and encouraged to talk about their opinions.

"We still need to be individual board members," he said. "If not, that's not representing people very well."

Board member Leah Lutheran said she has concerns about stating her personal opinion during interviews because she doesn't want it to be misconstrued as the board's opinion.

"It's such a fine line," she said.

Kirkeby said it is important to let media representatives know when they don't have an answer and then get back to them in a timely manner.

"The media is respectful about us getting back to them," she said.

Bill Engberg, general counsel for the Associated School Boards, said it is not uncommon for a board to appoint a spokesman, either the board chairman or the superintendent.

Sometimes, the superintendent is chosen because he or she knows the district's day-to-day operations better than the board members, Engberg said.

Because the board is elected, and dealing with tax dollars, there's an interest by the media, he said.

"There's an awful lot of information and you don't want people going off in different directions," he said.

Because the superintendent serves on a contract approved or rejected by the board, there's an automatic system of checks and balances in place, Engberg said.

"Since the superintendent serves as the pleasure of the board, there's a built in 'I want to makes sure that what I'm doing is reflective for what the board says is practice for the district,'" he said. "The board reads the newspaper, and if they have a question about it, they're going to ask the person serving in that role."

Contact Kayla Gahagan at 394-8410 or kayla.gahagan@rapidcityjournal.com