The Bainbridge Island School District is changing its policy on staff participation in political activities to emphasize that candidates can’t use school district property or work time for political purposes.

The Bainbridge Island School Board was expected to get its first look at the updated policy at its meeting this week.

The new rules mirror some changes made to the policy it was modeled after, crafted by the Washington State School Directors’ Association.

The changes are the first time the district’s policy on staff participation in political activities has been updated since 1988.

The rewritten policy also clarifies the guidelines in which an employee may request a leave of absence to engage in the work of an elective or appointive office. The new change says district employees who hold elective or appointed office aren’t entitled to time off from their district jobs because of their political work, unless the time away fits with the leave polities of the district.