In the wake of a public outcry earlier this year over nepotism in the district, the Board of Directors of School Administrative District 6 is reviewing its policy on the matter. But two school officials have said the first tweaks to the district’s policy are not enough.

Rebecca Bowley, member of the district’s Board of Directors and former chairwoman, of Hollis, said she would not support the policy as presented at Tuesday’s meeting because “I don’t feel there’s enough change.”

“What we’ve done is fluffed this up to hope it calms people who were upset last spring. But we haven’t looked at the meat of this,” she said.

The School Board held a first reading of a draft of the newly amended policy on Nov. 22. Next, the policy will return to the policy review committee for any amendments before it is sent back to the School Board for approval.

The next meeting of the policy review committee is scheduled for Monday, Dec. 5 at 5:15 p.m. at the Central Office, with a board meeting to follow at 7 p.m. An agenda for the policy review meeting was not immediately available.

The nepotism issue involved the February hiring of then-Superintendent Frank Sherburne’s son, 23-year-old Zachariah Sherburne. Sherburne was employed at Buxton Elementary School for a little more than a month. Four days after his employment ended with the district, he was arrested on charges of gross sexual assault and sexual abuse of a minor, in a case involving a 16-year-old girl in another school district where he had previously worked.

All charges against Zachariah Sherburne were later dropped.

In a closed meeting in May, the school board determined that the superintendent had violated the district’s nepotism policy in hiring his son, who had not first cleared a background check. But the School Board did not move to discipline Frank Sherburne.

Sherburne later resigned following public outrage, and Michael Roy, assistant superintendent, was named interim superintendent. In August, Michael Roy resumed his position as assistant superintendent and former Bonny Eagle High School Principal Paul Penna was appointed interim superintendent.

Alan Dube, School Board member from Standish and a member of the policy review committee, told the board Tuesday that the committee was looking to “ensure best reflected practices” with the two-page policy and to “simplify the policy to remove any potential confusion.”

The now-dated policy, approved in spring of 2009, is referenced by the code “BCC” and is available on the Bonny Eagle District website.

The new policy, which is still in a draft phase, is largely the same as the original. The committee altered the language of the “employment” clause to specify the board’s policy not to employ the spouse or child of a board member or superintendent. The policy previously stated the board would not employ any family member of a board member or the Superintendent.

They also moved the definition of “family” from a separate definitions section into the “supervision and evaluation” section of the policy, for clarification. The supervision policy prevents family members from being employed in a position where a member of their family is their supervisor.

School Board members Bowley and Cynthia Meserve, of Buxton, said the changes aren’t strong enough.

“We have some policies but they are not followed as far as I have experienced,” Meserve said. She said the board would also have to ensure compliance with the policies.

No members of the public commented at the meeting.

The draft nepotism policy was also updated to cross-reference several policies involving hiring best practices and the conflict of interest.

Also Tuesday, the board discussed updates to the district’s Right-to-Know policy. The new draft of that policy includes fees and a payment schedule, so anyone who makes a Freedom of Access Request will know what they are expected to pay and when, Dube said.

As written, the policy instates a 25-cent fee per page to cover the cost of copying, and a $15 fee per hour after the first half-hour of staff time per request to cover the actual cost of searching for, retrieving and compiling the requested public record.

After comparing costs with two other agencies, the board unanimously approved the appointment of Maine School Administrative Association to assist with the search for a new superintendent. The school association was the cheapest option, charging $150 per hour.

In this May file photo, Frank Sherburne, center, sits in a meeting of School Administrative District 6 Board of Directors. Sherburne later renounced his resignation following a nepotism violation, prompting the district to review and revise its policy on the matter.

Rebecca Bowley, right, sits with Michael Roy shortly after he was announced interim superintendent in May. Bowley said the draft changes to the district’s nepotism policy, following a nepotism violation last spring, are insufficient.