09. Policy: Spring 2021 Custom Updates

Strategic Priority		Reason for Consideration
Graduates Prepared for Work, Higher Education and Citizenship	X	Action	X
Excellent Educators	X	Information	X
Healthy, Safe and Responsible Students	X	Discussion
Operations and Support	X

Dr. Brian Weaver will present as first-read information 46 revised polices from the NCSBA Spring 2021 Custom Policy Updates and one revised policy (2310) from our board attorneys. One policy (1610/7800) reflects an impending deadline for a school-based mental health plan. A few policies contain changes from our board attorneys in addition to the NCSBA changes (revisions from our attorneys are shown in blue). Many contain only minor changes such as updates to legal references, statutes that have been recodified, new hyperlinks, and updated terminology. A few are related to the COVID-19 response. Other notable changes are described below. There are no new policies. Dr. Weaver will answer any questions you may have. Approval of the polices will be requested at the next regular meeting.

Policies related to the requirement for a school-based mental health plan:

1610/7800, Professional and Staff Development
6120, Student Health Services

Last year the General Assembly ratified Session Law 2020-7 which requires LEAs to adopt and implement a school-based mental health plan that includes a mental health training program and a suicide risk referral protocol. The plan must incorporate the requirements of State Board of Education Policy SHLT-003 and must be in place no later than July 1, 2021. The Transylvania County Schools mental health plan will be presented at the June 21 meeting. Employees must complete their initial mental health training by the end of the 2021-2022 school year.

Policies related to the COVID-19 response:

3300, School Calendar and Time for Learning
4400, Attendance

Other notable revisions:

2310, Public Participation at Board Meetings: Addresses protocols for requests from citizens to place items on the agenda and prohibits discussion of confidential personnel and student matters during public comment.

2440, Policy Review and Evaluation: Gives the superintendent authority to make minor changes to correct typographical, grammatical, or clerical errors in board policy.

3300, School Calendar and Time for Learning: In addition to the COVID-19 changes noted above, this policy has been streamlined to eliminate language that merely duplicated the statutory requirements for school calendars.

3460, Graduation Requirements: The graduation requirement tables have been updated to be consistent with the latest SBE changes through March 4, 2021.

3610, Counseling Program: This policy has been reorganized and updated to better reflect the current terminology, structure, and goals of the counseling program and current mandatory reporting requirements.

4125, Homeless Students: This update makes numerous revisions to the dispute resolution process for homeless students. The revisions are necessary to comply with a new administrative regulation promulgated by the State Board of Education that made changes to the dispute resolution process previously set out in SBE policy.

4400, Attendance: The information on tracking attendance on remote instruction days has been relocated from the “temporary rule” section of this policy to permanent language in Section A of the policy, consistent with an amendment to the DPI School Attendance and Accounting Manual. Other changes include reorganization of some sections, a new section added to address late arrivals and early departures, reference to the Code of Student Conduct for truancy consequences, elimination of the description of a process for potential grade reduction due to absences, and, in alignment with a multi-tiered system of support, the addition of a directive to school administrators to develop positive strategies to address chronic absenteeism.

6125, Administering Medicines to Students: Updates have been added to reflect information in the 2020 edition of the North Carolina School Health Program Manual regarding labeling of medication, access to controlled substances, and prerequisites for self-administration of medication.

7232, Discrimination and Harassment in the Workplace: The update clarifies that “sex” as used in the policy also includes pregnancy, childbirth, sexual orientation, and gender identity.

8341, Limited Claim Settlement: This policy has been revised to better align the policy with settlement practices that have withstood legal challenge.

Policies with Changes Due to New Administrative Rules: The State Board of Education has recently promulgated new administrative rules (“regulations”) based on existing State Board policies. In most cases, the administrative rule does not change the substance of the underlying policy on which it was based. In some cases, however, the State Board made changes during the rulemaking process, so the new administrative rule varies somewhat from the original State Board policy. Where relevant, policies have been updated to add a reference to the applicable administrative code and have made modifications where necessary to reflect changes made during the rulemaking process. Many of these policies contain only minor changes. A notable exception is policy 4125, Homeless Students, which has significant substantive changes as described above.

A motion is in order to accept the 47 policies listed below as first-read information.

Spring 2021 Custom Updates (first-read information)
1310/4002	Parental Involvement
1510/4200/7270	School Safety
1610/7800	Professional and Staff Development
1710/4020/7230	Discrimination and Harassment Prohibited by Federal Law
2310	Public Participation at Meetings
2440	Policy Review and Evaluation
3102	Online Instruction
3230/7330	Copyright Compliance
3300	School Calendar and Time for Learning
3460	Graduation Requirements
3470/4305	Alternative Learning Programs/Schools
3610	Counseling Program
3620	Extracurricular Activities and Student Organizations
3640/5130	Student Voter Registration and Preregistration
4040/7310	Staff-Student Relations
4050	Children of Military Families
4125	Homeless Students
4240/7312	Child Abuse and Related Threats to Child Safety
4270/6145	Concussion and Head Injury
4335	Criminal Behavior
4400	Attendance
4700	Student Records
5000	Schools and the Community
5020	Visitors to the Schools
5030	Community Use of Facilities
5070/7350	Public Records – Retention, Release, and Disposition
5071/7351	Electronically Stored Information Retention
5210	Distribution and Display of Non-School Material
6120	Student Health Services
6125	Administering Medicines to Students
6140	Student Wellness
6210	Organization of School Nutrition Services
6220	Operation of School Nutrition Services
6230	School Meal and Competitive Food Standards
6305	Safety and Student Transportation Services
6315	Drivers
6320	Use of Student Transportation Services
6321	Bus Routes
6450	Purchase of Services
7100	Recruitment and Selection of Personnel
7130	Licensure
7232	Discrimination and Harassment in the Workplace
7430	Substitute Teachers
7720	Employee Political Activities
8310	Annual Independent Audit
8341	Limited Claim Settlement
9020	Facility Design