Williamsburg-James City School Board Changing Equal Opportunity Employment Policy

The equal opportunity employment police at the Williamsburg-James City School Board has not been changed since it was created in 1982. The board is scheduled to vote on changes to the policy, which would update it, on February 18, which is the board’s next scheduled meeting, according to The Virginia Gazette.

In the updated policy, the word “physical handicap” will be changed to “disability.” The phrase of “or any other basis prohibited by law” will be added to the list of personal characteristics. Those characteristics include religion, color, race and sex. These are characteristics that are legally not allowed to be considered when hiring, promoting, paying, dismissing or assigning an employee.

The updated policy will also say the following: “Employment will be based upon qualifications and the ability of the person to perform effectively in a specific assignment.”

On Wednesday, the school division’s senior director for human resources, Jon Andre, said that the updated wording makes the policy more general for today.

“Instead of specifying every possibility and then having to change it if a new law comes in, it says ‘or other things protected by law,'” Andre said. “Things change all the time with lawsuits and court cases, so we figured we’d better get in front of it and make it more general.”