The newly adopted policy manual for Troy City Schools should be available online by early next week.

The TCS Board of Education approved the new policy manual Monday, bringing completion to the process of updating and consolidating the policies. Uploading the new manual to the school district’s website will complete the process, making the policies accessible to the public at all times.

“A lot of boards around the state have these massive policy manuals that have been around for 30 years,” said Jayne Williams, the attorney who worked with TCS on crafting and updating the policy manual. “Nobody knows how to find the manuals or how to find anything in them.”

The move to update, consolidate and upload the manuals is one that Williams said better serves the public. “This is a smaller manual, that has everything you need to have to meet federal and state guidelines, as well as the policies of the local board,” she said.

The interactive document will provide hyperlinks to the federal and state policies, as well as details on the local board’s policies. Federal and state policies range from sexual harassment policies to Title 9 to, coming next year, a policy on virtual schools, Williams said. “Local policies would be things like dress code, attendance, field trip policy or the public comment policy.”

Williams said while law requires all county commissions to have a public comment policy, it does not require school boards to have one. “However, most school boards do, and the one here is consistent with others’,” she said.

Dr. Lee Hicks, superintendent, said updating the policy manual and putting it online for parents, students, teachers and the public was a goal of the administration. “Our goal was to have the board policy finalized by the first of the year, and we’ll be able to do that,” he said, adding that sections of the previous policy manual dated back to 1980s. “We’re happy to get this done.”

In other business on Monday, the board approved several personnel actions, including the hire of Gregory “Boo” Mullins as social studies teacher/head baseball coach at Charles Henderson High School; Diane Campbell as cafeteria manager at Charles Henderson Middle School; and Robin Snyder, physical education teacher at Troy Elementary School and head softball coach at CHHS. The board also accepted the resignation of Paula Hinson, culinary arts teacher at CHHS, and John Jones, custodian at CHHS.

Mullins comes to CHHS from Brewton-Parker College in Mount Vernon, Ga., where he has been head coach since 2009 and, in 2014-2015, director of athletics. While there, he was named SSAC Coach of the Year and BPC coach of the year, and his teams were nationally ranked in the NAIA. He played for the Milwaukee Brewers from 1995-1999.

“We’re excited to have him,” Hicks said.

Snyder is a former teacher and softball coach at CHHS. He returns to CHHS from Zion Chapel, where he was a head softball coach. “He was the most qualified candidate and we’re excited to have him back in the system,” Hicks said.

The hires leave the district with only one remaining position to fill before classes begin: the culinary arts instructor.

“I just want to commend Dr. Hicks and the administrators,” said Roxie Kitchens, board member. “We did have a lot of positions open, and I’m very optimistic. We’ve filled these openings with good people.”